TROUBLE
by aubreyann012479
Summary: When Makiya Ateara is sent to live with her aunt and uncle, she is thrown into her cousin's world full of the supernatural. She was told to stay out of trouble, but in La Push, Wa. that's going to be damn near impossible. JxOC Set after NM Rated for lang.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: I understand that in Twilight Quil and Jacob are second cousins. In my story, they __**aren't.**__ This story takes place post New Moon.. Also, I own nothing. All the credit for the characters/entire Twilight world, apart from Makiya, goes to Stephanie Meyer._

_R&R PLEASE!!! But be gentle…this is my first FF. ;)_

Chapter 1

"Mom, this is ridiculous," I groaned on the way to the airport.

She looked at me with sad eyes. "Makiya, you know why I'm doing this. This will be a good thing. Just give your aunt and uncle a chance."

_Ha. Why would I?_

I hadn't been given much of a chance. I made one mistake. One lapse of judgment. Apparently, drinking and driving don't mix with Ford Mustangs and gigantic walnut trees. That combination equals one year of probation, loss of your driver's license for 3 months, and a one-way ticket to Washington because your mother thinks you're screwed up beyond her help.

We arrived at the airport, and I looked around at my beautiful home state and took a deep breath. I'd miss everything about South Carolina. I'd miss my hometown, the island Hilton Head. I'd miss the beautiful beaches the most. Anytime the weather permitted, you could find me on the beach.

Mom leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"Please stay out of trouble, Makiya. Tell Quil and Michelle that I send my love. Oh and don't forget to call and write as much as possible. I love you. This is your fresh start. Use it well."

A few hours later I was in Washington. It was raining when I arrived.

_Great,_ I thought, _cold and rainy. My own personal kind of hell_. In Hilton Head, it was 70 degrees. Warm, sunny. March usually signified the beginning of beach season.

As I walked down to baggage claim, I saw Quil Jr. first. He was hard to miss. It had been years since I'd seen him, but last I remembered he was about 5 foot nothing. Now he was at least 6'5. He had the muscles of a body builder. Standing next to him were Uncle Quil and Aunt Michelle. Q's eyes lit up when he saw me.

"Mack, you made it!" I hated when he called me that. He ran over to me and picked me up off the ground squeezing me until I could no longer breath.

"Q -- can't -- breathe --" He placed me back on the ground and chuckled. He was so large, but I could still see the boyishness in his face. "Man, it's been a really long time. How have you been? How was the trip? How's Aunt Anna?"

"She's great. And the trip sucked. You guys know how much I hate flying. God, how old are you anyway? I thought you were my _little_ cousin."

"Sixteen."

The senior Quil came over and placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's great to see you again. You look so much like your mother. Let's get your bags and get you home. I'm sure your tired."

Home. It was weird to think that this cold, wet, cloudy place was now my home.

It was a quiet ride to the reservation my family lived on. My aunt, uncle, and cousin were a part of the Quileute Tribe that lived in La Push, WA. My father, Quil Sr.'s brother, used to live on the res. until he met my mother. She was born and raised in South Carolina, but had decided to go to the University of Washington to major in photography. They met when she had gone to La Push Beach to take photographs for a senior project. After only knowing her for three weeks, my father proposed and dropped everything to move out east with her. About one year to the day after they were married, I was born. Twelve years later he died.

I could tell nothing had really changed since the last time I had been to La Push. The houses looked exactly the same. It even smelled the same. We pulled into a small house with a wooden sign out front that said, Welcome to the Ateara's. I was home.

"Q, get those bags and put them in Makiya's new room," my uncle barked and then turned to me. "We have it fixed up really nice for you. Your aunt's been looking through magazines for weeks."

I got settled in my room and decided that I needed some fresh air. Luckily, it had stopped raining for the time being. I walked into the living room where everyone was watching some sort of sporting event on TV.

"I'm going on a walk. I won't be too long."

Aunt Michelle suddenly looked worried. "You probably shouldn't. It's getting dark and with the woods so close by..." her voice trailed off as she looked at Uncle Quil.

He nodded, "Yeah, Makiya, we've had a bear problem and I don't want you to run into any trouble."

Q shot up, "Dad, don't worry about it. I'll go walk for a walk with her. I can show you the sights, maybe introduce you to some of my friends."

I agreed.

We walked for a while when we came upon a house with a garage in the back.

"This is my friend Jacob's house. He's kind of the best mechanic we've got on the res. You want to meet him? I'm pretty sure he's out back in the garage. He never leaves that place." He laughed.

"Yeah, sure. Maybe he can help me find a car." Q shot me a look. I don't think anyone would ever trust me behind the wheel of the car again.

"Hey, Jake," my cousin called," get your ass out here and meet the newest arrival to La Push."

My knees buckled as I watched the most beautiful man I had ever seen walk out of the garage. He was taller than Q by at least a couple inches. He didn't wear a shirt and I could see every defined muscle in his gorgeous chest. He was covered in oil and grease.

Q caught me as my knees buckled at the sight of him I fell. "You okay, Mack?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Um, I think it's just the jet lag setting in."

Jake looked at me as if he was trying to hold in a laugh. I blushed.

He reached out a hand. "Hi, I'm Jacob Black. And you are?"

"I'm Makiya." I managed to get out after what seemed like forever. I reached out for his hand and as I grabbed it, I felt immense heat coming off his palm.

"It's very nice to meet you Makiya." I shivered when I heard him say my name. "What do you know about transmissions?"

"Only that every car has one."

He laughed. "You're not going to be much help around here are you?"

"People don't really trust me around cars anymore."

"Yeah, I heard about your accident. It's a shame. A waste of a perfectly good car."

I had to agree. My mustang was a beauty. Green, black leather interior, supped up Roush Racing engine. It was fast. I guess that was part of the problem.

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, well I get my license back in 45 days, maybe you can help me pick out a _new_ car."

Q shot Jacob a look letting him know that that wasn't going to happen.

He leaned in close to me, "Don't worry, we'll find you something." He winked. Q looked pissed. We continued talking until I saw a man almost Jacob's size walked up to the garage.

_What are they feeding the guys in La Push?_ I wondered.

"Hey guys, we have..." he looked at me,"um...some tribal business to take care of up by the beach."

My cousin looked at Jake, then at me. "Okay, can I just meet you guys there? I need to get Mack home first. By the way, Sam, this is my cousin Mack."

I interrupted, "Makiya. I hate it when he calls me Mack."

Q laughed. I knew he only called me that to piss me off.

"It's nice to meet you, Makiya. And yeah that's fine, Quil. Just keep an eye open."

I figured they had probably spotted a bear near by and didn't want to scare me. I said bye to everyone and took one last look at the hotness that was Jacob Black.

As soon as I was back at home, the jet lag hit me like a ton of bricks and all I wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. I said goodnight to Aunt Michelle and Uncle Quil. Maybe Washington wasn't going to be absolutely terrible after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I woke up to the smell of bacon and coffee. My mom never cooked unless you count putting pop tarts in the toaster. I walked into the kitchen still half asleep.

"Good Morning, Makiya" my aunt said in a sing-songy voice.

_O God_, I thought, _She's a morning person._

"Good Morning. Breakfast smells delicious"

She smiled and placed bacon, eggs, and toast on a plate and handed it to me. I ate quick knowing I had a long day ahead of me. I was starting school at Forks High School. Everyone had decided that it would be better for me to go to the local public high school rather than the high school on the res. Even though I was half Quileute, I didn't really know much about the culture and I didn't want to go to a school where I'd be known as Quil's cousin.

"You about ready?" Uncle Quil asked. I could tell he was getting impatient. Okay, so I was the quintessential girly girl. I wanted to make sure my long black hair was straightened to perfection, my make up didn't make me look like a clown, and my outfit didn't make me look fat. I had always been told I was pretty, but I guess I just wanted to take the extra time in order to make a good impression on my new classmates. I went out to the kitchen and saw my uncle tapping his shoe.

"Ok, finally ready. Let's get this over with."

I arrived at Forks High School ready to make friends. At home, I had lots of friends. I had known everyone on the island since I was born. The school looked dark. It probably didn't help that there was nothing but clouds in the sky and it looked like it could rain any minute.

"Have fun and don't worry, everyone here is pretty friendly. Just be on your best behavior," my uncle warned.

I saw a guy running up to me the moment I got out of my uncle's truck.

"You're Makiya Ateara, right?" He said too enthusiastically.

"Yep, that's me. How'd you know that?"

"I'm Eric. I'm kind of the eyes and ears of the school. Everyone's been talking about you all weekend."

"Seriously?" I'd hoped that no one knew the whole story as to why I was here. I didn't need that reputation right off the bat. "What have they been saying?"

"Only that a new girl was coming here from South Carolina, and that you were living in La Push. Umm…" He looked at his feet, "They also said that you weren't allowed to go to school in La Push because you were a felon."

_Crap._

"What do they think I did?"

"The rumor is that you stole a car…"

"Well, that's definitely not true. I did get into a pretty bad car accident, but I'm no felon." That was true enough. My charges were dropped to misdemeanors. "And I chose to go to school here. It's just better for me."

"Oh, okay." He didn't look fully convinced. "Well, if you need anything let me know. And find me later; maybe we can eat lunch together. I'll introduce you to the gang."

I told him I would. And went on my way to find my first class.

Classes seemed to drag on. What they were going over I had already learned at home. Finally it was lunchtime.

I walked into the cafeteria and it felt like a movie. Everyone was staring at me. I saw Eric wave and immediately made my way over to him.

"Hey!"

I looked at the table he was sitting at. My attention immediately turned to the three people sitting at the very end of the table, still involved somewhat with Eric and his friends, but kind of in their own world at the same time.

_Wow, they are gorgeous._ I thought.

The guy looked to be about my age. He had copper hair and skin that was pale white. He was sickeningly beautiful. He smiled at me, a kind of crooked smile. One of the girls, who looked to be his sister, had similar features, but instead of copper hair she had black short hair. She was equally as beautiful, more beautiful than I had ever seen. Then there was another girl. She looked rather plain next to the others. She had long dark hair and pale skin with a slight hint of color. From their body language, I thought she had to be dating the copper-haired guy. There seemed to be something off about these three. For some reason, I had made up my mind not to like them.

"Hey Mack! This is the crew. This is Mike, Jessica, Angela, Ben, and Lindsay. Over here," he pointed to the three at the end of the table," we have Bella, Alice, and Edward."

"Hi. It's Makiya, not Mack."

The three pale kids looked at me. Bella, the one who wasn't as pale as the others looked at me like she knew me.

"Hey, your Quil's cousin right?" She surprised me.

"Yeah. I am. Just moved to La Push yesterday."

"I heard you were coming."

"Apparently, so did everyone else. How do you know Q?"

"The Black's are old family friends. Jake and I are really close."

Jake. I'd hoped to see him after school.

I sat down. As I ate my lunch, I listened to the other group of kids talk about the bad teachers, slutty girls, guys to stay away from. I wasn't paying attention. Edward was staring at me. He looked like he was smiling. I gave him a dirty look and got up to throw my tray away.

I had no reason not to like Edward, Alice, and Bella. I didn't like the way Edward stared at me though. I was also a bit jealous when Bella mentioned she was close with Jake. And something just seemed off about Alice.

_Oh well_, I thought, _school is half over for today_. I can go home soon and maybe make my way to Jacob's. I wonder if he'd believe me if I claimed I was lost. I laughed to myself. I had never been the type of girl to plot such things. I had never felt the need to chase a guy. They always came to me. Probably another reason my mom sent me here to Washington.

Finally school was over and as I walked out I saw Jacob and Quil waiting by Jacob's Rabbit. It wasn't the most attractive car, and I had no idea how these boys, both being over 6'5, fit in it. I laughed at the thought of it. I saw two familiar faces as I walked towards them.

_Why are Jake and Q talking to Edward and Bella?_ Q looked agitated. I wondered if he felt the same way about those two as I did.

"Does it really take two people to pick me up from school? You guys look like my body guards." I laughed. Nobody else did.

Jake's face seemed to light up when he saw me.

"Hey, crash." My heart fluttered. He even had a nickname for me. "You look beat. You ready to head out of here?"

"You have no idea."

Jake put his large arm around my shoulders. I was smitten. I looked at Edward and Bella. She looked almost jealous. I thought maybe there was something going on between her and Jake besides just being friends.

Jake opened the door of the Rabbit and I climbed in the back.

"What were you guys talking to them about?"

"Oh nothing. Bella and Jake have known each other since they were little. They heard about the little bear problem we're having over at La Push and wanted to see if we had resolved it yet." Q said nonchalantly.

"Why would they care? They seemed to be in their own little world." I thought I saw him start to laugh.

"Well Bella's father is the Chief of Police here in Forks. He wants to be prepared if the problem starts to make its way here."

It made sense, but I had a feeling that they weren't telling me the whole story.

We went to Jake's house when we got back to La Push. Sam was waiting there along with three other boys, two girls that looked to be about 20, and an older man in a wheelchair.

"Hey hey, the gang's all here," Q said as we got out of the car.

"Everyone, this is my cousin Makiya. You had better be on your best behavior around her. She's a nice southern lady and doesn't need to be corrupted by you kids." He chuckled.

_Nice southern lady, my ass. _I started laughing.

"Thanks for that wonderful intro, lil' cuz. So, is this what you guys do everyday? Hang out in the garage?"

'"Yeah, something like that." One of the boys said, with a mischievous smilee in his eyes.

Jake took me around and introduced me to everyone.

"You already know Sam and this is his fiancé Emily." Emily was gorgeous except for the scars on her face. It looked like she had gotten into a fight with mountain lion and lost.

"Wheels, over here," he said pointing to the guy in the wheelchair "is my dad, Billy. Next to him are Paul, Embry, Seth, and Leah. You'll get to know them. They are always here."

We all sat around and talked for probably 2 hours. I learned that Leah and Emily were both students at the local community college. Leah was also Seth's older sister. Their parents were the Clearwater's, a name I remembered from those couple visits we had here before my dad died. Seth and Embry went to school with Jake and Q, and Sam and Paul worked at a factory in Forks. Hanging out with them was like hanging out with a family.

Soon people started to disburse and it was only Jake, Q, and I left. Jake was talking about taking me surfing this weekend.

"It's so cold. I don't want to get in the water."

"Don't worry about that. We'll find a way to keep you warm." Jake smiled and Q looked like he was going to kill him.

"You know, Mack, maybe you're right. It is a little cold for surfing."

Q wasn't acting like a cousin. He was acting like a crazy older brother.

All of the sudden I heard a loud howl followed by an equally loud whine, which sounded like it came from some sort of dog. I looked at Q and Jake, eyes wide as a deer caught in headlights. The look on their faces did not help my fear.

"Makiya, go inside with Billy."

"Why? What's going on? What was tha.." I didn't even have time to finish before Jake picked me up and carried me into the house fireman style.

"Dad, keep an eye on her. No one leaves this house." Q and Jake looked angry. They were shaking terribly and in a flash they were gone.

"What was that about?" I asked. Billy just looked at me. I could tell he wanted me to just drop the subject and do what I was told. I turned my attention to Wheel of Fortune.

It was hours before they returned. I was asleep on the couch. Billy was asleep in his lazy boy.

"Mack...Mack...MAKIYA!!" I woke up to see Q standing over me. He looked tired.

"Quil, what happened? Where did you go? Where's Jake?"

"I'm right here, crash." I looked over. There he was half naked again. I tried to hide the huge grin on my face.

"What happened? What was that?"

"A bear attacked a wolf in the woods. Everything is fine. We got it." Jake looked calm as he said it so I believed him.

_A bear attacked a wolf?_

I didn't know a lot about bears or wolves for that matter, but I would think it would have to be the other way around. Q gave me the same look as Billy had, letting me know that it was time to drop the subject.

I woke up to find that Uncle Quil had already left for the day. Q and Jacob were sitting in the kitchen when I walked out, half asleep, in my pj's.

_Oh God, I probably look like crap. Why is he here so early in the morning? I haven't even showered._

"Hey cuz, looks like I'm taking you to school today."

"Don't you have school? Am I going to make you guys late?"

"No, we have the day off."

"Lucky." I really didn't want to do back to Forks High School. I was regretting the decision to not go to school on the res.

"You know you're jealous." Jacob chimed in. I was. Mainly for the fact that my cousin was going to spend the day with him while I was spending the day going over things I had already learned.

They dropped me off at school and I immediately noticed Edward, Bella, and Alice standing next to a shiny Volvo in the parking lot. They stared at me as I got out of the car. I saw them start towards us.

_Great. Just what I wanted this early in the morning._

"Hey." Edward said looking at Jacob.

"What's up?" Q asked. I could tell he didn't want to talk to them either.

"We just wanted to let you guys know that we appreciated your help last night with that..." he looked at me, "bear problem."

_They were there too?_

"No problem. That's what we're here for." Jacob answered.

I was officially confused. I intended to ask what they were doing there, but I heard the five-minute warning bell ring.

"You guys have fun today. I wish I didn't have school."

Jake looked at me with a smirk on his face, "Well maybe we can come get you after lunch?"

Q glared at him. "Dude, come on. You know my parents would kill me if they found out I helped her skip on her second day."

"Oh come on, Q," I begged, "I've already learned this stuff. I was in AP classes at my old school. Please come get me at lunch."

"We'll see." He said in that older brother tone he'd used quite a bit since I had arrived.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Apparently I wasn't the only one who wanted to play hooky. I noticed after I walked inside, Edward and Alice Cullen were heading back to the Volvo.

The first half of the day dragged on. Biology, Spanish, Algebra 2, then it was time for lunch. I snuck outside looking for the Volkswagen Rabbit.

"Hey crash," a heard a familiar voice behind me.

"You came!" I couldn't help my self from jumping up and giving him a hug.

"Sure did. You didn't think I'd let you suffer through boring class all day when you could be enjoying probably the only sunny day Forks will see all year?"

I looked up. They skies were blue. I hadn't noticed but it was actually pretty warm outside.

"Where's Q?"

"He's helping Sam out. He's remodeling the house before him and Em get hitched."

"So it's just us."

"Yep." My heart fluttered. "And I know the perfect place we can go so no one will catch us."

"Ok..."

We jumped in the Rabbit and started heading the opposite way from La Push.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Just be patient."

After about fourty-five minutes I saw where we were.

Welcome to Port Angeles.

"Port Angeles?"

"Be patient."

It was then I saw exactly where we were going. Frank's Used Car Lot.

"Jake, you're taking me car shopping?"

"I told you I would. So what are you looking for?"

I knew exactly what I wanted. "A jeep," I said. I had always wanted a big jeep. My mustang was great, but when it came to off-roading, it just didn't work very well.

"A jeep. A girl like you wants a jeep?" He laughed.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Look at you, Makiya. Perfect nails, perfect make up, perfect hair. I thought you'd want something with a little more frills."

"Well maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do. You know I'm a southern girl, right? We don't have to have all the bells and whistles."

He laughed again.

We got out and walked around. He took my hand. It fit perfectly in his.

"Stop. This is it. It's perfect!" I shouted.

"This?"

He pointed to the 1997 red Jeep Wrangler in front of us. It _was_ perfect. It looked like it was lifted about six inches. It had mean looking mud tires and a bumper guard in front.

"You want this? Definitely not what I expected you to pick."

"Oh Jake, I love it. Do you think we could test drive it?"

"You don't have a license, remember?"

_Crap_, he had me there. No license, no test-drive.

"Ok. Well at least I know its here." I leaned down towards the jeep. "I'll be back for you." Jake laughed again. I loved it when he laughed. It was a hearty, loveable laugh.

It was still pretty sunny out when we left Port Angeles. We stopped and got ice cream and decided to eat it in a near by park.

"You enjoying that ice cream, crash?" Jake looked at me and laughed as melted ice cream dripped all over my hands on onto my jeans.

"You could say that."

"So, your dad was Michael right?" I cringed. When I lived with my mom, it was kind of an unspoken rule not to mention his name. If we didn't talk about it, it almost seemed like he hadn't died, maybe he had just been on a business trip for the past five years.

"Yeah."

"What happened?" He could tell I was pretty uncomfortable talking about it. "If you don't want to tell me that's fine."

"No, it's not that. I just never really talk about him. It's just difficult." I took a deep breath. "He was killed in a boating accident. Sometimes he would take work on oilrigs. He'd be gone for weeks at a time. On the day he was supposed to come home, a hurricane hit near Hilton Head. If he had been on the rig it would have been fine. Unfortunately he was on a transporter boat that capsized, killing everyone on board. They never even found his body."

Jake wrapped his arm around me. "That sucks. I'm sorry. You know my dad was pretty upset when he heard. They all grew up together. We held a small memorial service down at the beach for him."

I didn't know that. Jake then looked at me seriously for a moment. "So, what got you sent out here?"

I knew that question was coming. "Oh you know, typical teenage stuff. Went to a party. Had too much to drink. Decided to drive home, then wrapped my car around a walnut tree."

"One accident and she sends you away?"

"It was a pretty bad accident. I had to be life-lined. I had some internal bleeding and brain swelling. But they fixed me up, good as new. Plus, it wasn't the first time I had come home, or attempted to come home drunk." Dr. Phil would probably say I drank to get rid of the pain that came from losing my dad. I always thought that drinking and partying is just what teenagers did. I could tell that here at La Push, things were different.

"Wow, you're trouble, Miss Ateara." I laughed. I used to be, but I was ready to make a new start.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Oh, sick Jacob." I yelled as he let out a huge burp. It had been a month since we had gone car shopping, and Jacob and I had spent almost every waking moment together.

"Awe, babe, I'm sorry. Excuse me." He let out a laugh then leaned in and kissed me.

"Jake, I'm going to break you one of these days."

I could look past his manners, or lack there of, only because he was the most perfect person in every other aspect.

The past month had been one of the best of my life. Even going to school had gotten better. I had become close with Lindsay, Jessica, and Angela. We made frequent shopping trips to Port Angeles. We gossiped. I started to feel like me again. I even had a job working at the bait shop right outside of La Push. It wasn't the best job, but at least I could save up money for my jeep. Two months and I'd have my license back.

"Hey, babe, I got to go."

"Jake, please don't. Can't Q and Embry handle everything? I mean how much "tribal business" is there really for high school guys?"

"Ki, you know I have to go." This was happening more and more as the bear problem in the area got worse. There had been 6 attacks in the past month; even one of Jake and Quil's friends from school was killed. I didn't understand why Jake had to have meetings with his friends all the time. He told me that they were laying bear traps and hunting, but I could tell he wasn't giving me the whole story, especially because they hadn't caught anything.

"I love you, you know that right?"

"Yeah. I know. I love you too, Jake. It just sucks."

"One day I will explain everything to you."

"Okay. Well be careful."

"Always."

I had Jake drop me off in Forks. I wasn't ready to go home yet. What was I going to do, homework? I decided to call Angela to see if she wanted to grab a bite to eat at the diner. While we were eating, Angela was telling me about a recent fight she had with Ben, her boyfriend of about a year. I half listened and offered advice when asked. I was thinking about Jacob, of course. I looked around the diner and saw a familiar face. Chief Swan was sitting in a booth in the corner with Bella.

_Ugh, I hope she doesn't decide to come over here._ I could feel someone standing over me.

"Hello, Makiya, Angela." It was Edward Cullen.

"Hello Edward." I said coldly. Edward and I just couldn't seem to get along. I knew that he was in on whatever was happening with the bear attacks. Jake, him, and the boys on La Push were always having secret meetings. Jake wanted me to give him a break. I just couldn't get past my bad feeling about him.

"Where's Jacob?"

"He had some stuff to do on the reservation."

"When you see him have him give me a call. I really need to speak with him."

"Gotcha" I turned back to Angela. I felt no need to continue the conversation.

I saw Bella get up and head over to the table. As much as I didn't like Edward, it was Bella I couldn't stand. I picked up on her jealous glares anytime she saw Jake and I together. He told me it was just my imagination. He had helped her through a rough patch once, and they became great friends, nothing more.

"Hey Bella," Angela said, always the nice one.

"Hey. You guys finish that English paper due tomorrow?"

I was ready to leave. I did not want to sit and make small talk with Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. "Oh crap! Hey Ang, you think you could drop me off at my place? I know it's a little out of the way, but I haven't even started on that paper. Thanks for reminding me, Bella." I lied. I was already done.

"Yeah, no prob." Angela and I grabbed the check and headed out, waving goodbye to Edward and Bella.

On the drive home, Angela asked if I had a problem with Bella and Edward.

_She's perceptive._

I said no. I didn't want to get into it.

We were getting close to La Push when I saw a man lying in the middle of the road.

"Angela, STOP!" She immediately slammed on the breaks as she saw the man too. We got out of the car. The man looked ragged. His shirt was torn to the point where there was nothing left. There was blood everywhere.

"Oh my God, Ang, he must have been attacked by a bear. Call 911." I screamed. I ran over to see if he was still alive. I placed my fingers on his neck. No pulse. "It's too late. He's gone." The blood drained from Angela's face. I stood up and started walking towards the car. That's when I heard Angela's blood curdling scream. I turned around in time to see the man standing right in front of me.

"Thank you for stopping." The man said, creepily smiling at me.

"Oh my god. I thought you were dead. The ambulance is on its way."

"They won't get here in time, trust me."

A woman appeared out of nowhere. I noticed her fiery red hair first. She looked half crazy.

"She smells good, Adam", she said walking over to me. "Let me have her, you take the other."

I was so confused, but I was sure this was some sort of set up. The fear had started to set in.

"Awe, Victoria, you always take the good one."

The woman was standing inches from my face.

"You smell like dog. You're with the wolves, aren't you? This should be fun. I bet they'll be really upset when they realize one of their own has become our dinner."

_Wolves?_

"Listen, lady, I don't know what you're talking about", I said turning towards the car. "I haven't even seen a wo..." I didn't have time to finish that sentence. I felt something hard hit me in the back and I was flying through the air. I hit Angela's car, hard, slamming my head into the windshield, cracking it. I was dazed, but still coherent enough to see what happened next.

Suddenly, Edward Cullen and his two brothers were standing in front of the car. Edward threw me into the back of the car yelling to stay put. Edward's brothers were attacking Adam, tearing him limb from limb. There was a fire that had been started on the side of the road. I couldn't see Victoria or Edward.

I heard a loud growl and looked over in time to see two gigantic wolves standing next to the doors of the car. They were the size of horses. I remembered what Victoria had said about me being with the wolves. My head started to get heavy and I laid down on the seat. Angela was beside me. She was unconscious and soon so was I.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I woke up to Jacob's voice. He didn't sound happy. I was pretty sure he was on the phone.

"Dammit, Edward. She almost died. What is it going to take to kill this bitch?" He looked over at me noticing I was awake. He didn't even bother to say bye, he hung up the phone and walked towards me. "Hey baby, how ya feeling?"

I looked around. I was in the hospital.

_Was I really in that bad of shape?_ "I'm okay. My head hurts. My chest hurts."

"You hit your head pretty hard. You have a concussion and two cracked ribs, but the doctor said you'll be fine. Quil and the rest of your family are in the cafeteria eating, you want me to go get them?"

"No, don't leave. They didn't call my mom did they?"

"I don't know. You're in the hospital, Ki. Don't you think that she deserves to know?" He had a point. But if I was going to be ok, I didn't want them to worry her. I also didn't want them to give her a reason to make me go back to South Carolina.

"There's no need to worry her. I'm fine. When can I get out of here?"

"Dr. Cullen said that he wants to keep you overnight for observation, but don't worry, he said I can stay if you want me to." That was a relief. If I had to stay in the hospital, I'd rather have Jacob here. I started to recall bits and pieces of why I was here. I sat straight up, startling Jake.

"Oh my god, where's Angela? Is she ok?"

"She's just fine babe. She hyperventilated and passed out. She doesn't remember a thing. I believe she's actually at home now. Probably just as worried about you as you are about her." That was a relief. I was still unsure what I saw that night.

"Jake, what happened? Edward and his brothers appeared out of nowhere. Victoria said something about me being involved with wolves, and then I saw them. They were huge."

"Babe, like I said, you hit your head pretty hard. Maybe you should get some rest and we'll talk about it in the morning." I decided that was probably a good idea.

The next morning, I was released from the hospital. I called my mom who was freaking out, just like I expected her to. She was going off about how maybe sending me to La Push wasn't a good idea. I reassured her I was fine and that it was just an accident. That's the story we were telling everybody, even Angela: On the way home from the diner, we hit a deer. We were lucky enough that Edward Cullen and his brothers, who just so happened to be home from college, were behind us and called 911. I hit my head in the accident. And Angela freaked out and passed out from the sight of the blood. Simple enough, right? But I knew what really happened and I expected to get some answers.

Jake had school the next day. I did too, but Aunt Michelle thought it would be best if I stayed home for at least a couple days. I decided that I was going to get some answers. I knew that Leah would be available. Leah Clearwater and I weren't close, but I knew that because I was with Jake, she would help me out. I walked over to the Clearwater house. Luckily, it was Leah who answered the door.

"Makiya, what are you doing? You should be in bed."

"Leah, I need a favor." She gave me a look like she knew she wasn't going to like what I had to say. "Look, I need to talk to the Cullens. I know Edward's in school, but do you think you could take me to their house so I could talk to Emmett or Jasper? I want to thank them."

"I can, but you should really talk to Jacob." _Why would I talk to Jacob when he wasn't even there?_

"Well he's in school. I don't want to bother him with all this, you know?"

"Ok. I'll take you. Let me grab my keys."

It was a 20-minute drive to the Cullens' house. It was out in the middle of nowhere. Without Leah's Tom-Tom, we would have been completely lost. We pulled into their house was amazing. White, but with tons of windows, huge, it was like something you might see on _MTV's Cribs_. It made me consider being a doctor, if I could live in a house like this. I thanked Leah and told her that I'd be back in a few minutes.

I walked up to the doors. Emmett opened it before I could even knock.

"This is a surprise."

"Hey, you probably don't know me. I'm Makiya Ateara. The girl you saved."

"Oh I know you. We all do."

"Ok, well I wanted to come here and thank you first and foremost. Secondly, I want you to tell me exactly what happened. I know I hit my head, but I did not imagine what I saw." He looked at me a bit shocked.

"Have you talked to your boyfriend?"

"No. Why does everyone keep asking me that? He wasn't even there." I was getting frustrated.

"You should ask him what happened. I don't know how much I'm allowed to say at this point." _Ok, what's going on? What is Jake NOT telling me?_

"Ok, well I'll do that, but if I don't get the answers I want, I'll be back." With that, I turned around and headed for Leah's car.

"How was that?" Leah asked.

"It didn't go as well as I planned. But whatever. Hey, Jacob should be getting out of school soon. Let's just go back home. He'll shoot me if he finds out that I was anywhere but in bed today."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When we got home, I was more confused than I was before we left. I went in the house and Jacob was waiting on the couch for me.

_Shit._ I was busted. He looked angry. I knew I was in trouble.

"Where in the hell have you been, Makiya?" He used the full name. I was in BIG trouble. I had gotten used to the nickname Ki. He was the only one that used it.

"I went on walk. What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to get out till 3, its not even 2:30."

"I got out early, but dammit, Ki. You almost died last night. You shouldn't be doing anything besides laying in bed, getting better."

"Aren't you being overdramatic? I'm better now. You know, they released me from the hospital. Dr. Cullen gave me his seal of approval and everything." Jake was shaking. I hadn't seen him like this since my first night here. "Babe, calm down." I reached out and put my hand on his chest. His eyes were filled with pain. I thought he might start crying.

"You don't know how close I was to losing you last night. I can't live without you." His words hit me hard.

"Babe, I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere. Promise." I wrapped my arms around his waist. He looked down at me and kissed my forehead.

"Will you do me a favor? Go lay down. You have a concussion and cracked ribs. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Only if you do me a favor, actually two." He looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "First, I will go lay down, only if you come with me."

"Done." He picked me up and started carrying me to my room.

"Wait", I heard him sigh and let out a groan, "Second, you have to tell me what happened last night. Apparently you, the one person who wasn't there, are the only one who can..."

He didn't say anything. He carried me the rest of the way to my room and we both laid down on my bed.

"Ki, I just don't think that it's a good idea for me to tell you right now."

"JACOB BLACK!" I sat up. I was instantly dizzy and fell back into his arms.

"Calm down, killer. Take it easy."

"Jake, you will tell me what happened, and you will tell me now. How am I supposed to trust you when I know you're keeping something from me?" He looked hurt by that statement. Finally he let out a long sigh and started talking.

"Did your dad ever tell you about where we came from? The Quileutes?"

"No, not really."

"Well then, let me teach you a little Quileute history." He beamed. "The legend goes that we are the decedents of wolves, and our ancestors were men that could turn into wolves." My eyes grew wide. I flashed back to Victoria asking me if I was with the wolves and the wolves standing by Angela's car.

He continued, "These _werewolves_ have only one enemy, the cold ones, or as most Americans call them, vampires."

"Vampires? Really?" I added a hint of sarcasm to my voice.

"Yeah. Really. Now it says that when the cold ones are around, the werewolves will be too."

"Ok, so the man and woman that attacked me last night were vampires? And the wolves I saw last night were members of our tribe?" This didn't make sense to me. Werewolves and vampires were characters out of fairy tales.

"Yep. Not only members of our tribe, but people you know."

I thought about who it could be, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"YOU?! Jake, you're a werewolf? How is that even possible? You were there last night?" I sat up a bit slower this time so I could look him in the eyes. "Is this a late April Fools joke? I'm supposed to believe that my boyfriend is a werewolf?"

He looked worried. "This is why I didn't want to tell you. I was afraid you'd freak out. I can give you more proof, but you have to promise to not be scared. More than anything, you can't leave me."

I took a deep breath. "Jake, nothing could make me leave you."

"Okay, keep looking out of your window."

I watched as he ran outside, stripping articles of clothing off as he went. Suddenly, outside my window I saw it. A gigantic wolf, with russet colored fur, and the most gorgeous brown eyes I had ever seen. I recognized those eyes immediately. In a flash the wolf was gone, and my half naked boyfriend came strolling back into the house. I couldn't help but smile at the site of him. I gathered my thoughts. _Ok, so Jake's a wolf. I can accept that, and if this is just some crazy dream, I'll just roll with it. _

"You don't have any urge to jump up and run away, do you?" He looked at me with unsure eyes.

"No. I love you Jacob Black. Always will, no matter what." I grabbed my side, "Besides, even if I wanted to, I'm in too much pain to run anywhere."

I laughed.

He glared at me. I don't think he found my comment very funny.

"Ok, well I understand the wolves, but why was Edward Cullen and his brothers there?"

"The Cullens' are vampires too. They're different from most though. They only hunt animals. The Quileutes used to have a treaty with them, if they stayed off our land; we'd stay off theirs. When we started having problems with Victoria and her crew, the treaty was temporarily put on hold. Now we work together to keep them away from here and hopefully destroy them all together."

I always knew that there was something off about them. At least I could attribute my dislike for them to genetics.

Jake continued, "The problem is, Victoria isn't just here to hunt. She's after Bella."

"Why?"

"A little over a year ago, Bella and the Cullens' had a run in with a clan of vampires. Victoria, her mate James, and a guy named Laurent. James went after Bella, and Edward killed him. Victoria went absolutely mad. She decided that since Edward took her mate, she was going to take his. For the past year, she's been after Bella. Now she has an entire army of new vampires, the strongest, most uncontrollable kind, and she's planning on bringing them here to attack us and the Cullens."

"So, Bella's human, but she's dating a vampire?"

"Yeah." I was surprised. Bella and I had something in common; we were both dating storybook characters.

"Jake, who was the other werewolf?"

He took a deep breath. "That would be your cousin. There are seven of us. Me, Quil, Paul, Embry, Leah, Seth, and our leader, Sam."

"Quil?" I was shocked. I didn't know how I felt about my boyfriend out chasing vampires, but my little cousin too? Most of the friends I had met here at La Push were were werewolves. I couldn't imagine if something happened to any of them. The worry and fear was starting to set in. "You can't…He can't… It's so dangerous. She kicked me, and made me fly like 20 feet. What if you get hurt?" Tears filled my eyes.

Jake pulled me into his arms. "Babe, we are very strong. We exist to fight off vampires. You don't have to worry about us."

I couldn't help but be worried, but Jake was so confidant. It was hard not to believe him when he told me everything was going to be ok.

"So, all of the _bear problem_ talk, that was vampire stuff, right?"

"Yeah. Now you know why Quil and I have been a little protective of you. Last night was the exact kind of thing we didn't want to happen. It won't happen again. Quil or I will be by your side 24/7 from now on. It makes me sick to think that I almost lost you. You're my whole life, Makiya."

"Like I said, I'm here, baby. I'm always going to be. I just want to make sure you're going to be, because everything you feel, I feel it too. I couldn't live a life without you."

He pulled me close to him. I loved snuggling with him. He kissed the top of my head, whispered _I love you,_ and then I was asleep.

I woke up to someone yelling my name, "Makiya Ann Ateara! What in the hell is going on here?"

_Shit. Busted again._

My uncle was standing at my door looking pissed off. I suddenly remembered there was a half naked teenage boy in my bed. Jake was already awake and grabbing the rest of his clothes.

"Uncle Quil, it's not what it looks like, I swear!"

"Really, because it doesn't look good. After last night, I come home to this? Dammit, Makiya."

"No, Jake just came over to check on me. I promise. We fell asleep."

Jake looked at my uncle, "She knows, Quil. I told her everything."

_He knew too? Was I the only one in the dark this whole time?_

"Well I guess that explains the clothes thrown all over the house." Quil was calming down. "Jacob, I don't want to catch you in my niece's bed again. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Jake leaned over and kissed my forehead, " Hey, I'll see you later, I have things to do anyway. If you need anything, let Quil know, ok?"

"Ok."

After Jake left, my attention quickly turned to my uncle who had calmed down but was still clearly pissed off.

"Don't you think that you and Jake are moving too quickly? You have that poor boy wrapped around your finger."

"Unc, I'm just as much wrapped around his finger. I can't describe it. I really love him. I've never felt this way about anybody."

He just shook his head, and as he walked away shouted, "I better not catch him anywhere near your bedroom again."

Q walked by, and I stopped him.

"He buddy," I said, worry probably filling my eyes, "what have you been up to?"

"I already know you know. You can stop worrying about me. Like Jake said, we're going to be just fine."

"That's not going to happen. Were you spying?"

"Not exactly. I don't think Jake told you, but we can read each other's thoughts when we're in wolf form. I just got back from hunting when he was on his way out. He played the whole conversation over in his head. Even all the lovey dovey stuff."

"Oh." _Mental note: Watch what you do and say around Jake._ "Wait, you can see, like all his thoughts?"

"Yeah. Even dirty ones. Things he imagines, it's pretty sick. I mean, the other guys do too, but not about my cousin. He's gotten better about it…but still…" He shuttered. I blushed.

"Sorry."

"You should get back in bed."

"Quil, thank you. It makes me feel better knowing that you were there protecting me last night. Just be careful, okay? I don't know what I'd do if I lost you or Jake."

"Nothing's going to happen. You just focus on getting better, let us take care of everything else."

He went into his room. I went back to bed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A week had passed since the attack happened. The only time Jacob and Q would leave me alone was when I was at school. Even still, Edward and Alice kept an eye on me. If they weren't there, I was pretty sure Jake would have enrolled at Forks himself.

I had a new appreciation for the Cullens. Not only had they saved my life, but Jake had reiterated the fact several times that they were the good guys. What they did, not hunting humans, was a very difficult way of life for them. I made a conscious decision to try and make friends, at least not enemies, with them, even Bella.

The school year was almost over. After finishing my finals in Algebra 2 and Bio, I was ready for lunch. I strolled in to the cafeteria and took my normal seat with the Cullens, Bella, and the rest of our friends.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" I said.

"Oh my god, Makiya, have you heard about Mike's crazy graduation party?" Jessica asked.

"Why would Mike have a grad party? He's not even graduating yet."

"Juniors here always throw the seniors a grad party at one of their houses. It's going to be so much fun. Like, so much. Are you in?"

I hadn't been to a party since I moved to Washington. In fact, the last party I went to I ended up almost dying, getting arrested, and being sent here afterwards. _Maybe Jake could come with me._

"Yeah, but is it okay if I invite a couple people from La Push?"

"Duh," Mike yelled, "It's a party. Come one, come all!"

Surely having Jake and Q there would ease my Uncle's mind about letting me go. I looked at Edward and Bella, "You guys going to be there, too? You're all seniors right?"

Bella looked at Edward then at everyone else, who seemed shocked that they were even contemplating the idea. Edward then stood up and said, "Yeah, we'll be there. You only graduate once, right?" I saw Bella start to laugh, which made me laugh. Q had told me that vampires and werewolves were basically immortal. The Cullens moved around a lot, therefore Edward Cullen had probably graduated high school about 50 times.

After a couple more finals, school was over. Luckily, my teachers had decided to split up their finals into two days. Tomorrow, I had four more finals, but they were in my easiest classes. I didn't even have to study for them, which made me very happy. Between recovery and finals, I hadn't been able to hang out with Jake as much as I wanted to. Uncle Quil was still uneasy around him after finding him half naked in my bed.

Suddenly, I was being lifted up. "Ow!" My ribs were still a little sore.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot." Jacob grinned.

"Where's the Rabbit?" I hadn't seen his car when I walked out. He was usually parked right in front of the doors.

"I don't have it. I ran here."

"Jacob, La Push is like fifteen minutes away, by car. How did you have time to get here from school?"

"I told you. I'm very fast. It only took me about five minutes by wolf." He winked.

"That's great, but how am _I_ going to get home?"

"You could always ride me." I blushed.

"Seriously, Jake."

"Well, I was thinking that maybe you could drive me, in your jeep."

At that moment, I saw it. Quil pulled up in the jeep from the car lot. It was just as perfect as I remembered. It was a nice enough day that the top wasn't needed.

"Jake, how in the hell did you pull this off?" I had just gotten my license back. My mom had called a couple days ago to let me know she had received my reinstatement letter. Her call came with a warning that I was to be careful, and that just because I had a license didn't mean that I could do whatever I pleased. She also warned me that at the first sign of any kind of problems, Uncle Quil and Aunt Michelle were fully prepared to take away any privileges I may have, including spending time with Jake. I promised her that things were different and that I had learned from my mistakes in Hilton Head. It wasn't even a lie. I felt like a completely different person.

Jake and I walked up to where Quil had parked.

"Your mom sent us your savings and the insurance settlement from your accident. My parents went to Port Angeles today. It's all yours. Don't wreck it."

I jumped up in the driver's seat. Quil and Jake stood on the sidewalk.

"Do you think it's safe to get in there?" Jake asked Q with a stupid gin on his face.

"Probably not. But we heal fast."

I glared at both of them. "Come on. I_ will_ leave you both here."

They both laughed, but climbed in. We were about half way back to the res, when I saw a trail off on the side of the road. I thought it'd be perfect to test the off-road package. The guys didn't.

"What the hell are you doing, Mack?" My cousin yelled.

I just threw my head back and laughed. "Don't worry. I've been off-roading before."

He was obviously pissed, and Jake didn't look too happy either, but after a couple minutes, they were over it. I had to give Washington some credit it was beautiful. There were trees there taller than any I had ever seen.

I decided to ask Jake about the party on the way home. Hopefully he'd be ok with it.

"Hey, baby…"

"What now?"

"Okay, before you say no, just know that Edward and Bella are totally going to be there," Jake didn't really like to hang out with people off the res. Edward and Bella were kind of the exception. "Mike Newton is throwing a party at his house for all the seniors. I told him I would go, but I know that Uncle Quil wouldn't let me unless you and Quil go too.

Please."

He sighed, "I _guess_ we can go, but you better stay out of trouble. Your uncle would never let me back over if you pulled anything."

"Q, you down too? It's Saturday night."

"Ugh. If I have to." He rolled his eyes.

"You guys are seriously my favorites."

"I'm going on the record though as saying this is a bad idea." I laughed. Q was more of a worrywart than my mother.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Saturday came around sooner than I'd thought. School was over. I still had my job and had to work early in the morning, but I was excited for the party that night. Q had taken a job at the bait shop too, and requested to work with me. The owner was an old family friend, and had granted his request after Q had told him about my fictional psycho ex-boyfriend who was stalking me. I was furious when I heard that. I thought they had taken this 24-hour protection thing a little too far.

After work, I went home to take a nap. Q followed me home, but then he had to go hunting. He promised to stay near the house though, in case something came up. Uncle Quil and Aunt Michelle had gone to Seattle for the weekend, and I had the house to myself. They had left with a warning. Only Q and I were allowed in the house.

"Honey, I'm home." Jake called.

"What are you doing here?"

He grinned, "Q's out hunting, besides I heard that your aunt and uncle were going to be gone this weekend. I didn't want you to be all alone in this," he looked around, "– small – house."

"You know, I could get in big trouble for you being here."

"You're no stranger to trouble…" He was dangerously close. I couldn't help myself. _Rules, schmules._

"Okay, Jacob. You can stay. Don't tell Q. Don't even think about it."

He looked at me, head tilted to one side, "You know about that."

"I know more than you think. You know, you kind of gross Q out."

"Yeah, but it's hard not to think about you. Not to think about doing this…" He leaned in and kissed me hard and with more passion than ever before. Before I knew it, he was carrying me to my bedroom.

"You know, you could let me walk sometimes," I whispered. "Just because you can carry me around everywhere, doesn't mean you should." He laughed as he laid me down on the bed. He climbed on top of me. I could feel his warm skin, but none of his weight. His kisses came quicker and rougher. I wanted nothing more than to rip his shirt off his chest, but as I reached up, he stopped me.

"Makiya," he said out of breath, "we shouldn't. Not now."

"You started it," was all I could manage to get out.

"I know. I couldn't help myself. But you mean so much more to me than this. I want everything to be perfect when it happens."

"Okay, but damn, Jake. Where did that kiss come from?"

"I can't help myself around you. I told you before, you're trouble, Makiya Ateara."

He rolled over beside me, both of us staring at the ceiling, trying to cool off.

I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, Q was standing at the door.

"So, that _no house guests _rule apparently got broken."

"Q, nothing happened. I swear. You're not going to tell Uncle Quil, are you?"

"Secret's safe with me. Don't Ask, Don't Tell. As in, I'm not going to ask you what happened here, and you're not going to tell me anything that goes on between the two of you." He looked at Jake, who was apparently waking up too, "And you. When you phase, any thoughts about her, and anything that may or may not have happened, are off limits, got it?" Jake nodded, and Q left.

"I can't believe we just got caught again."

"Yeah, Q's probably going to rip my head off later. He was just being nice because you're here."

I leaned over and kissed him, "I'll tell him to go easy on you."

I looked at my watch, "Oh my god, Jacob. It's after 8. I have to get ready. Go tell Q to get ready. I want to leave by at least 9."

"Do we have to go?"

"Jake, please. I want to see my friends. It'll be fun I promise." With that, I jumped up, grabbed a towel and my clothes, and headed for the bathroom. An hour later we were on the road.

Mike's party was bigger than I thought it would be. There was a big bonfire in the Newmans' backyard, and Porto potties set up on the side. Kids in Forks sure did know how to throw a party. It wasn't hard to spot Edward and Bella. We began to walk over to them, when Mike stopped us.

"Hey guys," he said looking at Jake and Q, "I'm Mike. I think I've met you before, Jacob. That must make you Quil, is it?" Q nodded. "Mack here doesn't shut up about you guys." I blushed. I didn't think I talked about them that much, okay, maybe Jacob. "Well there are refreshments in the coolers over there. All I ask is that if you drink, you have a sober driver or you're just really good at driving drunk." He laughed. The guys didn't find it funny. In fact, Q was starting to shake.

"Alrighty, boys, let's go find Edward and Bella. Thanks for the heads up, Mike."

Q was still shaking, "That guy is a tool. I should go back there and teach him a little lesson about drinking and driving."

"Hey, hey. No need for that. He doesn't know, Q. No one here does."

I hadn't told anyone why I was sent here, I just let the rumors fly. I had heard everything from I had just gotten out of rehab with Lindsay Lohan to I had just gotten out of jail.

Edward and Bella walked up to us. She looked at Q, obviously still fuming mad.

"You alright, Quil?"

"Oh, he's fine," Jake chimed in, "Mike Newton just pissed him off a bit."

"Been there," Edward said.

"So, where's that cooler Mike was talking about? I could use a drink."

Jake glared at me. "I don't think so." I had never seen Jake look as scary as he did in that moment,

"Just kidding," I said, sheepishly. Changing the subject, I asked Bella about her plans for the fall. Apparently, her and Edward were going to Dartmouth together. Then she shocked me by saying that before they left they were getting married.

"Married? But you're so young."

"It's complicated," was all she said on the subject.

_Must be a vampire thing,_ I thought to myself.

"Yeah." Edward said looking at me.

"Yeah, what?"

"Oh, sorry. I thought you said that out loud."

"Huh?"

"Ki, I forgot to tell you, Edward can read people's thoughts."

"What do you mean, read people's thought?"

Edward jumped in, "Some of our kind have special qualities that humans don't have. I can hear what people are thinking just as clear as if they were saying it."

"That's creepy, "Jacob let out a howling laugh, "Does that mean that I'm the only one here that can't read someone else's mind?"

Bella looked at me, "I can't either. I know exactly how you feel. It's frustrating being human with these guys around."

"Exactly." I was starting to like Bella. Her and I had a lot in common. We were both dating mythical creatures. Both of them were way overprotective of us.

We continued to talk amongst ourselves until we saw that the party was breaking up. I had to pee, so I told Jake and Q I'd meet them back at the jeep. I was waiting in line when a clearly drunk boy came up and put his arm around me.

"You're Makiya, right?" He said, slurring his words.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

He stared me up and down, "I'm the guy of your dreams."

"Hardly," I said, trying to push him off me.

He grabbed me tighter, "Don't play me like that. I heard about all the freaky stuff you got into back in South Carolina. Why don't you come home with me tonight and we could have some fun."

"Look, dude, my boyfriend and cousin are right over there. I don't know what freaky stuff you're talking about, but you had better let me go."

"Hey, baby, they don't have to know a thing," He said, while pulling me into one of the Porto Potties.

"LET ME GO!" I screamed. He became more violent. He grabbed my hair and pulled me close, placing one hand over my mouth so quick I didn't know what was happening

"You probably shouldn't do that. Don't fight it. It'll just make it worse."

Tears rushed to my eyes as he leaned back to lock the door, but it flew open so hard it came off the Porto potty completely. Jake was standing there; hate filling his eyes. He was shaking so furiously, I thought he was going to phase right there. He grabbed the boy, holding him in the air by his neck. My attacker was turning blue and his eyes were bulging out of his head.

"Jake, stop. You're killing him." He looked at me and threw him on the ground.

He swooped down and picked me up. His eyes held no more hate, just pain. He brushed the hair out of my face. "Can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?" I thought I saw tears in his eyes, like I had the night after the accident.

"I'm so sorry," I started crying. I couldn't help it. "Jake, it's all my fault. He heard the rumors about me at school and thought I was slutty. If I had just told everyone what really happened, he probably would have left me alone. I'm sorry."

"Ki," he said angrily, "This is in no way your fault. It's his. He's a sick pervert. He would have tried to attack you even without the rumors. That's just how he is, but don't worry, your cousin is going to teach him a lesson or two about how to treat a woman."

"Jake, no. Can't we just go home?"

"Yeah, babe. But I'm beefing up your security detail. You're never going to be alone again."

Q drove the jeep back to La Push while Jacob and I sat in the back seat. He hadn't let me go since we left the party. When we got home, he picked me up and started to carry me inside, "Hey, what did I tell you about carrying me? I won't break if you let me walk up the sidewalk, you know."

"I'm not putting you down." He was serious. I decided that I it wasn't the best time for an argument. He carried me into my room, for the second time that day and laid me down on the bed. He just stood over me, the pain returning to his eyes.

"Jake, what is it, now? Just come lay down with me, okay? Let it go."

"Ki, I can't let it go. This is the second time in two weeks I've almost lost you."

"But both times you didn't. You saved me, Jake. If you hadn't been there tonight, who knows what might have happened." A growl escaped from his mouth. He was shaking again. "Dammit, Jake." My voice came out louder and angrier that it should, "Just stop. Just fucking stop. Bad things happen. And we just have to deal with them. You can't let them consume you."

He was angry, "How are you so fucking calm about all of this? A man nearly rapes you, and you're mad at me for being angry?"

"The point is that he DIDN'T. He didn't. I am angry at him. I'm angry at myself for being in that situation. But, if I let that anger towards him consume my every thought, if I let the anger from almost being killed by Victoria and her goon be what I think about every morning when I wake up, there'd be no room for the good things. Like lying here with you today, or hanging out with friends, or driving my jeep. I couldn't think about those kinds of things if all I thought about was how angry I am for the things that almost happened."

"I just can't get over things that quickly," he said, looking at the floor, "I'm not like you. I'm just going to need some time." He leaned down and kissed my forehead then turned towards the door.

"No, please stay with me," I didn't want him to leave. "I don't want to be alone tonight. Please, just stay." I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards me. I hadn't noticed, but during the argument, we had made our way out to the living room.

"Ki, I can't. I just can't."

"Why, Jacob? Why can't you?" I didn't understand.

"I almost killed someone tonight," he was yelling, "If you weren't there, I would have."

"If I wasn't there, the situation never would have come about. This is all my fault."

"No," he said half growling, "it's mine. I almost lost control tonight. It took everything I had not to phase and tear that guy to shreds. I still want to."

"But you didn't and I won't let you. You're in control."

"Yeah, well next time I might not be. Next time I might end up doing something I will regret for the rest of my life."

"Next time…you can't waste your life thinking about what might happen. Just stay with me. Just be with me. We can handle whatever comes our way together."

"I just don't think right now is the best time for us to be together like this." I took a step back, almost falling down as I did, tears filling my eyes.

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"No. God, no. I love you. You're my whole heart, but I need time to readjust myself. I'm still a werewolf, and even though you said you're okay with that, I think you need time to consider what that means for you."

"Jake I don't need time. I know exactly what I want. If you don't…" My voice trailed off, I was suddenly furious. "You know what, take all the time you need," I said coldly, "But when you decide you want to come back, I can't guarantee I'll be waiting for you."

_Why did he need time, when I was so sure about what I wanted?_

With a defeated face, he turned around and sped out the door.

I began to sob, loud uncontrollable sobs. I collapsed in front of the door, unable to move. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that he had actually left. I didn't understand how he could be okay with leaving me there by myself after everything that had gone on that night. I felt sick to my stomach. At some point Q came and picked me up, placing me in my bed. I laid there for hours contemplating whether I should go to his house, try to work things out. I couldn't. Eventually, sleep, restless as it was, found me.


	9. Chapter 9

_AN: What do you think so far? _

Chapter 9

"Get up. It's almost noon." My little cousin called to me from the doorway. I opened my eyes slightly. The sun was shining through my window. I wondered how it could be so beautiful outside, when I was feeling so dark inside. "Mack, it's 75 degrees outside, the sun is shining, and you have a brand new jeep waiting for you outside. I already took the top off. Let's go for a drive."

"Go away. I don't want to move." He walked over and pulled all the covers off my bed.

"Look, I'm not going to let you sit here and sulk all day. Now, get up. We have things to do." I glared at him. He didn't know what I was going through. The person I loved the most turned his back on me. "Mack, get up. Seriously." I shook my head. "Okay, I'm going to get the ice water. It's going on your head if you're not up by the time I get back here."

"Ugh, fine. But FYI, I pretty much hate you right now." I climbed out of bed. I took the longest shower possible, standing under the water until it turned cold. I got out, threw on a tee and some old cheerleading shorts. I didn't even bother drying my hair, just pulled it up into a sloppy ponytail. I went outside to meet Q.

"Let's go." He looked at me shocked.

"You're ready?" He glanced down at my outfit, noticing my hair was a mess and I was wearing no make-up.

"I guess."

I climbed in the jeep. It was more freeing than I expected. It was hard to think about the events of last night when I was worrying about driving. The jeep wasn't the easiest thing to drive. It was a five speed. It was kind of hard to turn. We went speeding through the hills of La Push, and ended up at the beach.

"Hey, do you think the water is warm enough for a swim?" I asked.

"Probably not. This is the warmest day we've had all year, but you know, we could take the boat out."

"You guys have a boat?" I was surprised. At home, everyone had a boat. Most of my friends lived on the water, so it was easier just to pull up to their dock, than try to maneuver our way around all the tourist traffic. Most people here didn't really seem like the boating type.

"Yeah. It's small, but at least it works. Here, let me drive. You don't know how to get to the marina."

I climbed into the passenger seat. After a few minutes, we were at the "marina", which consisted of about 10 boats tied up to wooden docks. Q walked over to one. It was probably the nicest one out of the all of them. Nothing particularly stood out about it. There were two seats and a bench in the back, and some seating in the bow. I climbed in, and we took off heading nowhere fast.

"I have some friends that have a party barge set up about ten miles from here. Wanna go?" I was sure I knew who those friends were. It would be hard, but Sam, Emily, Leah, Embry, and Paul were my friends too.

"Sure." I couldn't help but feel like this was a set up.

We sped off, in the distance I could see a large pontoon, hooked up to two smaller boats. Three large men were standing on the top level of the pontoon. It looked like they were preparing to jump. The closer we got, I could see that the three men were Embry, Paul, and Seth. They jumped in as soon as we got close enough and splashed water all over us. Q was right, the water was freezing.

"Really guys? Was that necessary?" Q looked at them, then at me.

The guys' laugh was infectious. I couldn't help but to smile.

"Oh, lighten up Quil." Embry shouted from the water. We got our boat connected to the pontoon and climbed aboard. Leah and Emily were on he top level laying out, so I headed up there.

Leah gave me a pitiful look, which told me she already knew. "How ya doing, hun?" she asked.

"Hanging in there, I guess." I laid down next to them.

She glanced at Emily then back at me, "You know these boys are all hot-headed. He'll come around when he cools off."

"I don't know if I want him to come back around." I lied. I just wasn't going to let them see that I was pining away for him. He was the one that left me. I wanted him to know how angry I was. "I don't care how angry he was, he shouldn't have left like that. I can't trust someone whose just going to leave every time he gets upset." I was sure that comment would hurt him when Leah played it back in her head. I didn't care. I was growing angrier the more I thought about him.

Emily looked up at me, her scars looked more prevalent in the sunlight. I could see where they ran from her face down to her left arm, and all the way down her leg.

"Did Jake ever tell you what happened to me? Where I got these scars?" I had always wondered, but never had the nerve to ask.

"No."

"Sam was the first to phase out of all the boys. His father wasn't around, so he had no idea what was happening to him. One day, we were out on a walk and got into an argument. He began shaking so hard. The next thing I knew, a huge wolf was standing in front of me. His paw swiped me right across the face and down the whole left side of my body. The guilt almost killed him. To this day, I can still see a flash of guilt in his eyes when he looks at me."

"Emily," I said, "I had no idea. That's awful."

"You just need to remember, Jake's not like other boys. His temper can be deadly. Not that he would, but he can't take the chance of losing control around you." I turned around to lie on my stomach and put my head down in the towel. I had been so mad at him for leaving. _Could it have been that all he was trying to do was protect me?_ I had to talk to him.

We stayed out on the boat until the sun started to go down.

Q hopped in the drivers' seat of the jeep on our way back home. I didn't mind. My thoughts were consumed with what Emily and Leah had said. _If Jake was just trying to protect me, why didn't he just say so?_ I guess he had in a roundabout kind of way.

"You're quiet. Were the girls nice to you today?" I was pulled away from my thoughts.

"Yep." I said, an idea popping into my head. "Hey, Q, you can read Jake's thoughts, right?"

"Yeah."

"Have you since the fight?"

"Mack, I don't want to get into this right now."

"Q, please. I wouldn't ask you if it weren't important."

"Look, he's not doing so good. The guys said that he phased right after he left the house last night and hasn't phased back since. He's just wondering around. The last I heard, he was in Canada."

"Tell him to come home. Tell him he's being ridiculous."

"I will, but he's not listening to anyone right now."

"He is so infuriating. If he thinks he's the only one that's hurting right now…"

"This is why I didn't want to get involved. I don't like the drama."

"I'm sorry. I am just so mad at him. You know, Emily told me about what happened with her and Sam. And I'd love nothing more than to talk to Jake about it. Ask him if he was trying to protect me when he left. But no that son of a bitch up and left."

"Chill out. He'll come back. Has anyone ever told you that southern accent of yours is really thick when you're pissed?"

"You trying to change the subject?"

"Duh," he said. I folded my arms across my chest and pouted the rest of the way back to the house. When I got home, I'd just have to call Angela or Jessica and talk to them.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It had been six weeks, four days, six hours, and 32 min since I had last seen Jacob. The past month and a half weeks had been hell. Even after the conversation with Emily, I was still so angry with him. If he was just trying to protect me, being gone wasn't doing any good. I was depressed. I couldn't eat or sleep. Q had to drag me out of bed for work. It was a good thing he was worked with me or else I wouldn't have gone at all. In the past month, I had been attacked by a vampire, been sexually assaulted, and had driven my werewolf boyfriend to flee the country. If anyone had a right to stay in bed everyday, it was me. What angered me the most was that my heart ached so bad for Jacob.

Not only were things going bad in my life but the attacks were still happening. Even with the Cullens' and the werewolves keeping an eye on things, two more people were killed while hiking just beyond the La Push line.

I was at work one day, and Bella Swan walked in. She gave me the same pitiful look that Leah had the day on the boat.

"Hey, Makiya, how you holding up?" She said, her voice filled with worry. I had to admit, I looked like hell. I hadn't touched a hair straightener or my make-up bag since Jake had left. I had probably lost fifteen pounds. I was already small, but now I just looked sick.

"I'm doing okay." I lied.

"I know exactly what you're going through." I knew she was only saying that to make me feel better.

"Yeah. Well it's hard. He won't even talk to me. He ignores Q and Sam and I'm just so mad at him."

"Mad?" She asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, mad. He left me. I told him not to expect me to be waiting for him when he got back. And apparently, he's okay with that."

"I know he's not."

"How? How do you know that?" I snapped.

"Because he called me. Well, he called Edward. He wanted to make sure that you were being watched over. We talked about it." I was furious. He called them and couldn't bother to call me. He couldn't bother to call his brothers.

Hot tears filled my eyes, "Why would he do this to me? To Q and Sam and Embry and Paul? Why? We've all been sitting here worried. Waiting for him to call or to contact someone. He chooses you and Edward. He wants to make sure I'm being stalked by a fuckin' bloodsucker rather than come back and check on me himself. That son of a bitch."

Q had heard me yelling and stepped out of the back room.

"What's going on?" He said glancing back and forth between Bella and I.

"Why don't you ask her?" I yelled.

"What's going on," he asked again.

"Well, I told Makiya that –"

I interrupted, "That stupid asshole called Edward. Bella's talked to him. He wanted to make sure that I was being stalked properly."

"What?" Q looked so confused.

Bella was calm, unlike me who was near hysterics, "Jake wanted to make sure that Makiya was being protected. He told Edward to keep an extra eye on her. I tried to talk him into coming back home, but he just said that he wouldn't be much use."

"God, I hate him." I screamed, as I turned around, heading for the door. I needed to take a drive. I didn't think that Q would mind finishing out my shift for me.

Bella ran out after me. "Makiya, wait. I meant it when I said I knew what you were going through."

"How? You and Edward are perfectly happy. He adores you."

"We've had our problems. He left me once too." I was floored. "Come on," she said, "let's get out of here."

We hopped into the jeep. Bella proceeded to tell me about the time when Edward had left. He felt like he was drawing the danger towards her. He thought that if he left, she'd be safe. What he didn't count on was Victoria coming back to try to find Bella. Bella told me about her zombie like behavior and how Jake was the one that pulled her out of it. It was around the time he had found out he was a werewolf. She told me about how he acquired his motorcycle and how she was trying to find dangerous things to do to feel closer to Edward.

As she went on, I began to realize something. Her situation and mine were completely different. Edward left to do what he thought was best for her. Jake left for the same reason, but he was staying gone because he was a stubborn ass. He couldn't deal with the problems we were having and he ran. He refused to talk to me. He refused to talk to anyone besides Bella and Edward. I knew Bella thought she was doing me a favor by comparing her pain to mine, but it was so different.

"Bella," I stopped her, "Jake isn't drawing danger to me. He's the one that keeps saving me. Everything thing that's happened would have regardless of whether he was here or not. Victoria was just wrong place, wrong time. Same with that dude who tried to have his way with me in the Porto Potty." I laughed. Saying it out loud, that I was attacked in a Porto Potty, just sounded so ridiculous.

She looked at me like I was crazy. "Look, he's worried about losing control around you. The situation at Mike's party scared him."

"Why did it scare him?"

"He almost killed someone. He's not afraid of losing control with you. He's worried about losing control around other people, people that might hurt you. He loves you so much. When someone hurts you, it hurts him about 20 times more."

"He's hurt me worse than anyone ever could."

"He knows."

"Then why doesn't he come home." I had pulled over and was starting to cry.

"All I can say it's complicated. He knows that him staying away is hurting you, but he's worried that if he comes home, he could hurt you even worse. Not only that, but he's worried that you've changed your mind. That you don't want him to come back home."

"How could he think that? I love him."

I sat there and thought for a minute. I started the jeep back up. I knew how I would get Jake to believe I wanted him home. I sped towards the Cullens house, and text Q with my plan. I didn't want to tell Bella yet, in case she didn't want to go along with it. I didn't really want to give her a choice.

We pulled up to the Cullens' house.

"Are Edward and Emmett home?"

She looked at me confused, "I think so. Why? What are you doing?"

"I have a plan, but I'm going to need them."

"Ok. Hold on. I'll go see." Before she could even open up the jeep door, Edward and Emmett were in the back seat.

"Let's go. What did Q say?" Edward said.

"How did you guys do that?" I asked.

"I read minds. And we're fast." He said, cockily.

"Oh yeah, vampire." They both laughed at me.

"Ok, since you guys know the plan, want to fill me in?" Bella asked.

"She's going to go find Jake, using her cousin to see where he's at."

"He's in Canada. That's like a six hour drive."

I had a smirk on my face, "I know."

Edward continued, "We're going to run part of the way."

Bella looked like she was going to be sick.

My phone was vibrating. Q had text me back. He wasn't thrilled that I was alone with two vampires. As much as he liked Edward and Bella, he still didn't trust them, but he wanted Jake home too.

"Hey, Q just said that Jacob was around Port Alberni. That's not too far from the border, right?"

"Yeah. It's not actually too far from here. We can probably run you there in a couple hours. If you don't mind taking a little swim."

"Is the water going to be warm enough?" It might have been 80 degrees outside, but it was still Canada.

Emmett laughed, "Oh yeah. Besides, we won't be in it but 15 minutes."

"Ok, let's do it."

I parked my jeep in an abandoned warehouse parking lot.

"Climb on up." Emmett said, smiling big. He was huge, but not as big as Jacob. If he wasn't so good-hearted and funny, he'd actually be pretty scary.

We were off. Running with vampires was like riding a motorcycle, at 200 mph. I was scared out of my mind. We were narrowly missing trees and other forest debris. Emmett put me down when we reached the water, which just so happened to be the Vancouver Bay.

"We're crossing that?" I said.

"Yep. You scared, human?" Emmett mocked.

"Don't worry. I promise they won't let anything happen to us." Bella reassured me.

"Ok, let's go." I hoped that one day Jacob would appreciate the depths I would go to for him.

I jumped back on Emmett's back, and we dove in. He swam so smoothly, but I could tell we were going very fast. Before I knew it, we were on the other side and running again.

When we finally got to Port Alberni, Edward checked us into a hotel room. He was whispering to Bella.

"Hey, why don't we go up and shower. We have connecting rooms." She said, giving me a key card.

"Ok, I probably need one anyway." People were staring. I was sure we all looked a mess.

I felt better after my shower and I was ready to go find Jacob. Edward had rented a Hummer. I had no clue where he found it. Port Alberni was about the size of Forks, not a whole lot of car rental options.

"Let's go find us a werewolf," Emmett said.

We drove around for about forty-five minutes. Suddenly, Edward stopped the car. He was gone in the amount of time it took me blink, Emmett right behind him.

"Do you ever get used that?" I asked Bella.

"No. Not really." She giggled.

That's the moment I saw it. A gigantic, russet-colored wolf. It was pretty far away, but I knew it was Jacob. I jumped out of the car and started running towards it, tears blurring my eyes.

"Jacob," I yelled, "I love you." I couldn't wait to tell him that. I was afraid he'd run again without knowing.

"Stay back," Edward yelled.

I did as I was told, though I didn't understand why Jacob wouldn't want to see me.

I could here him talking to Jacob, but nothing was being said back to him. I was reminded for the second time that day the he could read thoughts.

I was getting impatient. Then, Jacob was gone. I began running towards them again. I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I couldn't believe that he would leave me again. Not after what I did to get here. Not after the pain I had been in for the past three weeks. Edward stopped me. I started throwing punches at him, but he wouldn't let me go. It hurt my hand. Edward was like a stone.

"You let me go right now or so help me, I will kill you myself." Emmett laughed, which made me angrier.

"He's coming back. He wanted to phase, so he could talk to you." Edward said, calmly.

I took a deep breath, trying to collect myself.

"Oh. Sorry," I said, sheepishly.

And then, I was being lifted. I felt his warm skin first. I turned my head and looked into the beautiful brown eyes of the man I loved.

"Jacob," I whispered.

**R&R PLEASE!!! ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

_R&R Please. I pretty much have the rest of the sotry done…but I need you to let me know if you like the way things are going so far._

Chapter 11

Any anger I had melted away the moment I saw him. All I wanted to do was hold Jacob in my arms. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to be with him forever.

"Hey, you." He smiled. It was the most perfect smile I had ever seen. He placed me back on my feet. I wrapped my arms around his waist, afraid that if I let him go, he would be gone. His hot skin against my cheek felt good.

"Don't ever leave again."

"I'm not going anywhere." He said, holding me closer to him.

We stood there for a long time. Nothing else in the world existed.

When we finally did look around, I noticed that Edward, Bella, and Emmett were nowhere to be found. I started to walk towards the Hummer, Jacob's hand in mine. I found a note on the dashboard.

We're just going to run back to the hotel. You guys take the Hummer. Just don't let Makiya drive.

Edward

Jake chuckled when he read the note. We hopped in the car. I still couldn't take my eyes off of him. When we got back to the hotel room, we stopped by Edward, Emmett, and Bella's room to let them know we were back. Then we went into my room.

"Your own room?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, a little present from Edward Cullen." He smiled mischievously, "Don't get any ideas, mister." I turned and walked into the bathroom. He followed me. "I mean it, Jacob." He got closer. I could feel his hot breath on my lips, which were aching to find his.

"You should probably take a shower," I said, in a shaky whisper.

"I'm good," He breathed into my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

I couldn't hold off any longer. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He lifted me up, his lips never leaving mine, and placed me on the bathroom counter. My legs wrapped around his waist.

"Stop," I said out of breath.

"Why" he asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Jake, don't you think for one second I forgot why I'm here. Why I had to ride a vampire to come find you. Before we continue whatever this is, we need to talk."

"Ki," he pleaded, "You started it." My mind flashed back to the last day I had seen him. I had said those exact same words to him. The anger, which had disappeared, came back with a vengeance.

"Jake, I was miserable without you, but don't for one second think that all is forgiven. Because it's not. You really hurt me. Like can't eat, can't sleep, being dragged out of my bed by Q every morning because I couldn't face the day kind of hurt." He backed away.

"I didn't know," was all he managed to get out. He was clearly shocked by my sudden anger.

"How could you not? I talked to everyone. I talked to Leah, Emily, Bella, Edward, Q – everyone."

"I mean, I knew that you were angry, but I guess I never really thought about how bad you were hurting."

"You know, to be honest, I don't think you thought about me the entire time you were gone."

Jake looked towards the floor. It took him awhile before he spoke again, "How could you say that," he said so low I could barely hear him, "You're all I think about. You have been since the first day I met you. I made the biggest mistake of my life when I left."

"Yeah. You did." He looked at me with tears in his eyes. I hadn't meant to sound so harsh. It just came out like that, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just so angry, so hurt. You left me, Jacob. You decided that whatever it was you were going through, you didn't need me." Tears were falling down my cheeks. "I just don't understand."

"I didn't want to hurt you or anybody else. I scared myself at the graduation party. I had so much rage building up, it would have taken seconds for me to kill that guy. I started to question my ability to keep myself together. I mean, if someone else were to hurt you, I don't know if I could stop like I did with him."

"Yeah, but you have me. You have Q and your brothers. We all believe in you." I grabbed his hands and looked into his eyes, trying to see what he was feeling. It was a mixture of sadness and comfort.

"I know, but when I left, I wasn't sure that was enough. Ki, you can't understand how I felt that night. I felt more hate than I ever had before. Even more than the night Victoria attacked you." I understood what he was saying. It was the same thing we had talked about before he left. It was the same thing I had talked about with Bella.

"Jake, you have to let those things go. You have to understand that people will probably hurt me. Maybe not physically, but they will hurt me. You don't have to punish them. If we are ever in a situation like that again, you have to focus more on me, not them. They don't matter."

"I know. That's exactly what I've been thinking about while I've been up here. I guess I stayed gone for so long because I was ashamed. I thought that people would see me as weak. I thought that you wouldn't want me back."

"Why would you think something like that?"

"You told me that if I left not to expect you to wait around. I didn't."

"Jacob, for a smart guy, you can be pretty dumb sometimes." I said smiling, "Don't you know that I'd wait for you forever? It was a stupid thing to say, but I just wanted you to stay."

"The thing is, you don't have to ever wait again. I'm going to be with you as long as you let me." When he said that, I knew that the fight was over. I could hear the honesty in his words.

"You better." I said, grabbing his shorts, pulling him close to me. He leaned down placed his lips hard on mine. He kissed me hungrily, my head in between his large hands. His hands slowly moved down my back. I wrapped my legs around his waist again, and he started walking towards the bed. He kissed down my neck. When he sat me down, I climbed on top of him, and removed my shirt. He smiled. I leaned down, kissing his warm, bare chest, moving my way down. I was starting to unbutton his shorts when I heard somebody clear their throat.

_This better be an emergency_, I thought.

"Umm…sorry to interrupt," Bella said. She was blushing. "But Alice has had a vision."

I rolled over trying to cover myself, "What do you mean?"

"Alice has seen that Victoria is bringing twenty newborn vampires to Forks. They should arrive around midnight on Monday."

"What can she like see the future or something?" I asked.

Jake answered, "Yeah, but her visions are subjective. If the person in the vision changes their mind, then the vision changes."

"Ok," Nothing really surprised me anymore. "But the vampires, why are they coming to Forks?"

Bella looked solemn, "For us."

"You mean you, right?"

"Unfortunately, she means both of you." Edward said, walking towards us.

"Dude, seriously," Jacob said, "I mean, your timing couldn't be worse."

Edward laughed and backed away, "Sorry, but we have to get back."

I couldn't speak.

_Why would Victoria be after me?_ I thought.

"She's crazy." Edward explained. "She's pissed off at the wolves for killing her friend Laurent. She wants revenge. She knows you're a friend of them, so you're on her list. She's also a little upset that both you and Angela got away that night. Victoria is a vengeful woman. She's going to do whatever it takes to get to you and Bella, then, she's probably going to go after the rest of Forks and La Push with her newborn army."

"Great," was all I could say. I couldn't believe that Bella and I had yet another thing in common, a vampire bitch that was trying to kill us.

Jacob wrapped his arms around me. "Babe, don't worry. We're going to get this bitch, and when we do, she's going to pay for what she did to you. I guarantee she won't get within a mile of you."

I didn't feel reassured. I felt sick. Even if Victoria didn't get close to me, her and her army would be battling my friends and family. If one of them was hurt, I couldn't deal with it. Today was Saturday. They would only have a day to prepare.

Edward and Bella left the room. I put my shirt back on, and gathered my things, not saying a word. We all met downstairs. We climbed in the Hummer. Edward had said he would return it after the whole Victoria thing was taking care of.

The trip home didn't take as long as I thought it would. Edward drove very fast. They dropped Jake and I off to pick up my jeep.

"You probably shouldn't be driving. You look like you could fall asleep at any moment."

"Jake, I'll be fine." I said, but I knew he was right. He gave me that raised eyebrow look he got and grabbed the keys out of my hand. I didn't even bother to argue. We drove back to the res. When we got back to Uncle Quil and Aunt Michelle's house, Q met us outside.

"I already know, dude," he said, looking at Jake. "We're meeting the Cullens' at 11:00 in the baseball field. Jasper has fought newborns before. He's going to teach us techniques to fight them off."

"You have to leave," I whined. I had just gotten Jacob back. I didn't want him to have to leave again.

"Babe, I have to. I have to know how to protect you. Go inside, take a hot bath, and go to bed. I'll see you first thing in the morning."

"Can I come with you?"

Q answered, "I don't think that's a good idea. With the vampires and everything. Just stay here."

"It's just the Cullens'. They're good vampires."

Q's face got very serious, "There's no such thing."

"Lighten up, Q. She'll be fine. If she wants to come with us, I don't see a problem." Jake smiled.

Q growled under his breath. "If anything happens to her…"


	12. Chapter 12

_Two chapters left after this one. Please R&R. Just a reminder, I don't own anything, except for Makiya. _

Chapter 12

We all hopped into my Jeep. To get to the Cullens' baseball field, we had to go off-roading a bit. We pulled onto a dirt path, and sped through the tall trees, narrowly missing them. Q was freaking out, shouting obscenities every couple minutes. I just laughed it off. When we got to the field, which was no more than a huge clearing, I could see the Cullens' and the rest of the werewolves standing around a large bonfire. I spotted Bella, and walked over to her. It was almost comforting to know that she was in the same boat as I was. Our loved ones were here because of us. They were preparing for battle over us.

I let out a loud sigh, as Jasper gathered everyone around.

"Okay, first thing you need to know about newborn vampires is that they are very strong, but they aren't the most intelligent. They have no skills. They are like children. They will go in for the easy kill, using their brute strength. As long as you don't let them get their arms around you, you should be fine."

Q and Jake had disappeared. In their place were werewolves. I counted ten of them all together. The last I knew there were only 7. The wolves looked at Jasper with intensity.

He continued, "Now, Emmett, could you please step up here and try to attack me. You're the best example of a newborn attack."

Emmett grimaced, "I'm no newborn. I have skill."

"What I mean is that you use your strength to attack. When you're fighting newborns, you have to go at them from the sides, or do something that would not be expected. You have to throw them off. Now, try to attack me."

Emmett smiled and ran at Jasper faster than I could imagine. I could barely see them, just the blur. Suddenly the movement stopped, and I could see Jasper on Emmett's back, teeth inches away from his neck.

"Dammit," Emmett shouted.

"See what I mean. You have to go at them from the sides." The wolves seemed to nod in agreement.

Their speed scared me. If Emmett and Jasper were that fast and that strong and the newborns were stronger and faster, there wasn't a question in my mind that someone was going to get hurt or killed tomorrow. I couldn't bear the thought.

"We don't know yet," Edward said, looking at Jake, "No. I don't want to do that." He paused, then looked at Bella.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.

He looked at Jake, then me, "We need to place you guys somewhere safe during the fight. We know where they are coming, but if they catch either of your scents, they could change their minds and trace you to wherever you are."

I was surprised. I didn't know I had a scent that could be traced.

"What if we're here? In the field. I mean, you all will be here, right? What are the chances of us getting hurt with ten werewolves and seven vampires around? And you guys could keep an eye on us."

"Absolutely not." Edward said. Jacob-wolf growled. "That would be unbelievably dangerous. If just one of them got by us…"

"But –"

I was cut off. Jacob let out a horrific growl, showing his teeth. It was scary. For a moment, I flashed back to Emily's scars. I had never been afraid of Jacob, but I was terrified.

"Cool it, Jake." Edward said, "There is no way. I wouldn't allow it, and you obviously know Jacob's response."

"Okay, so what's going to happen to us?" Bella asked.

"Jacob thinks that you will be safe at La Push. I don't know if I'm okay with that." He glared at Jake. "Listen, if we take them to La Push, and one of the newborns catches their trail, which would be easy because Makiya lives there, the whole reservation would be put in danger, and we wouldn't know until the massacre was over."

Jacob darted off into the woods. I knew he was angry. I got a sick feeling in my stomach, like he was leaving me again.

"He's coming back. He just wants to be able to talk to everyone, not just me and the pack."

The rest of the werewolves stayed very still. They were all staring at Edward and his family, which had gathered around us right after hearing Jacob's growl. Everyone looked prepared to fight, with Bella and I standing confusedly in the middle. Jacob ran out of the woods with a face I had seen only once before. That look of anger he had during our fight. Though, it wasn't anger this time, it was frustration.

"I will tell you this, you are not coming anywhere near this god damn field." He yelled at me.

"Okay." I said, defensively.

"As for them being at La Push, it's the only place that will be safe."

Jasper spoke up, "What if we put them in the woods, some place far away enough where their sent can't be traced, but close enough we can get to them if we need to. We can set up false trails."

"What about the trail that's going to lead them straight up to where they are?" Jake questioned.

"Well, I haven't figured that out yet." Jasper said, "Now that she's looking for both Bella and Makiya, they're going to be looking for the werewolves too. There's no way we could cover up that stench."

_Stench?_ I had always thought Jacob smelt good.

"I think that Makiya's idea is the best. If we're both in the field, then there would be no need to cover our trails." Bella chimed in. _Finally, someone is on my side._

"I already said that that was out of the question." Edward said. Jacob nodded to confirm.

"You know, they might be on to something." Jasper said.

"NO!" Jacob shouted. "There is absolutely no way either of them are going to be out here."

Edward's father Carlisle, a gorgeous man with blonde hair and pale skin like the rest, spoke up, "There has to be another way. We can't have them down here. Is there a way we could confuse the trail? Take them all around the forest. Leave their scent everywhere. Throw their clothes about."

"That might work," Jasper answered.

"It will work, but only for about an hour." Alice said. "They will follow the scent to the clearing, but split up to two groups of 9, coming from both sides of the clearing. We will be victorious, but it looks like two of them will be with Victoria. She'll figure it out, but after that, I'm not sure what she'll do. It's not clear."

"I know a place where we can keep the girls. If anything changes, we will know beforehand." Edward said.

"But what if she's wrong? What if Victoria catches on quicker? I'm not going to leave them unprotected." Jacob's voice was shaking, with either fear or anger, I couldn't tell.

"Alice is rarely wrong." Edward said, "But I agree with you. I can stay with the girls."

Jasper grimaced, "You are the fastest, we're going to need you."

"One of the wolves could stay with them, that way if something goes wrong, we would know about it right away." Jake offered.

"Okay. Meet me here tomorrow morning at 7. Make sure you bring some clothes that have been worn, Makiya." I agreed, though I was terrified. I couldn't believe that it had come to this. Tomorrow morning we would be preparing for the battle. There was a good possibility I wouldn't live through it. There was a good possibility one of these people whom I cared about would die protecting Bella and I. I wondered if she was feeling the same guilt and absolute fear that I was, but I didn't have time to talk to her about it. Jake and Edward said their goodbyes, Jake looked at the pack and agreed to meet them all back at the res.

We walked to the jeep in silence. He had his arm around my waist holding me very close. He asked for my keys, and I gave them up, with no argument. This could very well be the last night I had with Jacob, and I didn't want to spend it fighting over stupid things.

"Jacob, I love you" I whispered.

"I love you too, baby." He looked at me with those pain-filled eyes I recognized from the night I was assaulted at Mike's party.

"If something happens to me tomorrow…" He placed his finger on my lips.

"Nothing will happen to you, Ki. I promise. You're going to be fine." He looked at me confidently.

"But what about you? Jacob, if something happened to you, it would kill me." Tears were forming in my eyes. I had become such a crybaby since moving to La Push, but I guess at home I had never felt about anybody the way I felt about Jacob.

"I'll be fine. Stop worrying. We can take care of ourselves."

"If I had a dollar for everytime somebody told me to stop worrying."

"You know to quote a movie, 'Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but you never end up getting anywhere.'"

"I can't worry, Jacob. I can't even wrap my head around what's going on. In the past three months, my life has changed so much. I'm in love like never before, with a werewolf, whose friends with vampires, which go to my school. And there's another vampire that wants me dead. I'm scared, 100 percent terrified. I'm scared that my friends, my family, my boyfriend are all going to be killed because someone wants me dead."

"Stop it. No more talk about this. I promised you that we're going to be fine. Believe me. Please."

I didn't want to talk about it any further. So I agreed to drop the subject. I was still scared, and would be until tomorrow night when this was all over, but Alice said that they would be victorious and who would bet against someone who could see the future?

Jacob and I arrived back at the house. He had to go meet the pack, but said that he'd be at the house bright and early to pick me up. It was almost three o'clock in the morning. I was more tired than I realized. I went in, laid down, and, before I knew it, I was sound asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I found Jacob sleeping in the chair in the corner of my room. I grabbed some clothes and snuck out of my room. I didn't want to wake him. He looked so peaceful when he slept. I changed in the bathroom and went out to the kitchen where Aunt Michelle had a big breakfast on the table. Uncle Quil had already begun to dig in.

"Where's Jacob?" she asked.

"Umm…I don't know?" I knew the rules. No boys in my room.

"I know he's in there, Makiya." _Busted._

"Look, I just woke up and he was sleeping the chair. Nothing happened. I swear." I explained.

She laughed. "We know. Q explained everything."

"He better stay in that chair. I don't know if I buy the whole protection thing." My uncle stated, looking up from his paper.

Protection. So Q must have told them _everything_.

"Don't worry about it. He's a little preoccupied to be thinking about making a move."

I grabbed two plates of food and went back to my room. I walked over to Jake, gently shaking him to wake him up.

"What?" He jumped up nearly knocking the plates out of my hands.

"I brought you breakfast in bed, well in a chair."

He rubbed his eyes and sat back down, "Thanks, babe. I'm starving." He devoured the entire plate before I had time to sit down and take a bite.

"Damn, you were hungry." I laughed, "Aunt Michelle has more out there if you want."

"Ok, I'll be right back." He walked out to the kitchen and came back with a huge pile of scrambled eggs, two biscuits, and a three sausage links.

"Geez, you weren't kidding about being hungry. Did you leave any food for everyone else?"

He smiled, "Michelle told me to take whatever I want."

My boyfriend wasn't just a werewolf. He was a pig.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"It's six-thirty. I grabbed some dirty clothes and threw them in a bag. I'm ready when you are."

"Well I'm done. Let's go. I'll drive."

My stomach was in knots the entire way. When we got to the clearing, Edward and Bella were already there. Bella looked as bad as I felt. We quickly went to work dropping our clothes places around the forest, rubbing up against the trees, doing whatever we could to throw off our scent, or at least make it everywhere.

Jake lifted me up, and we started running. Jake wasn't nearly as fast as Edward. We ran for about 45 minutes until we reached a small meadow. It was beautiful. Jake pulled out a tent from his backpack. The guys went to work setting it up. Bella and I had strict instructions to not leave the tent. Seth Clearwater would be there, in case we needed anything.

It was after ten. The dark skies looked almost eerie. It was as if they were made for a night like this. The clouds blocked the stars and the moon.

"We have to go now." Jake said somberly. "I love you so much. You're going to be fine. Just stay put. It should be all over soon."

Tears welled up in my eyes, I reached out to him. He grabbed me pulling me into his arms. He kissed me passionately. I never wanted to let him go.

"Jake, I have never cared about anyone more than you. You are my whole heart. Please be careful. Once for yourself, twice for me. I love you."

"I will. I promised, remember. I've never broken a promise."

He kissed my forehead and darted off into the woods. Edward was gone too. Bella and I found each other in the dark. We hugged, sobbing on each other's shoulders. We were two girls alone in the dark, praying our boyfriends would come back alive, praying that we would be alive to see them again.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It was cold. It might have been June, but we were up in the mountains. I hadn't dressed properly, but Edward had brought blankets. We were in the tent, huddled together when we heard a noise in the woods. I couldn't help but let out a little scream. Someone or something was at the door. It was scratching. Bella got up and started walking towards it. I thought she had lost her mind. I was terrified. She opened the door to a large wolf.

"Seth?" I asked, breathing a sigh of relief.

The wolf nodded.

"You idiot. You almost gave me a heart attack." I knew he couldn't talk back, but he looked almost guilty. "Are they here yet?"

He nodded. My heart sank. Jake would be fighting for his life, for my life. We were too far away to hear anything for ourselves. Seth was in the tent with us. It was almost funny. The tent was large, but between the three of us, very crowded. Bella and I were curled up next to him. He was very warm.

I heard the growl coming from his gut first. I jumped up. Bella followed suit, eyes wide with fear. Seth didn't waste time. He tore a hole in the tent, and started running. I knew something was wrong.

"Seth! No don't leave." Bella shouted. But he was out of sight. The fear over took me. I dropped to my knees. We were alone. We had no way of communicating with anyone. Something had gone terribly wrong in the clearing, and for all I knew, the newborns and Victoria were coming here.

"What do we do?" I looked at Bella.

"What do you mean? We don't do anything. There is no way we can defeat the vampires."

I knew we were on the same wavelength. "You know, after hanging out with vampires for so long, you should know some tricks of the trade, like how to defeat them."

"Makiya, there's no way we could, unless you have some super strength I'm not aware of." I looked at her confused. I watched _Buffy: The Vampire Slayer_. Humans could defeat vampires.

"What?" I asked.

"The only way to beat a vampire is to tear him limb from limb and burn the pieces."

"Fuck." I shouted. I couldn't contain my anger and frustration any longer. "Look, we have to go down there. I'm not going to just sit here waiting to die."

"Makiya, we can't. We'd only be a distraction." _Since when did Bella become the calm headed one in the situation? _I thought.

"I know you're right. But-" I was cut off by a loud growl. I looked at Bella who was shaking like a Chihuahua. I poked my head out of the tent for only a moment and immediately recognized the large wolf standing outside. I started to walk out of the whole left by Seth, until I heard a familiar voice.

"You can't protect them alone, wolf." She hissed. Quil wolf snarled, displaying all his teeth.

"He's not alone." Another familiar male voice. Victoria took a couple steps back.

"Isn't this sweet?" Victoria scowled. "You can't protect both of them. So, which one will it be, the wolf-bitch, or your precious, Bella, Edward?" She let out an evil laugh. "I'll guess we will see which one I get to first." Her faced formed into a wicked grin.

"Victoria, I want the wolf girl. She smells delicious." A man's voice said.

"Riley, you can have her." At that, Q lunged toward Riley so quick he looked like a blur. Q was on top of him as he laid on the ground. Riley pushed him off with such force, my cousin slammed into a nearby tree with a sickening thud. I winced.

I hadn't noticed until then that Edward and Victoria were engaged in quite the battle themselves. As I took a step back and looked at both fights, it was like something out of a movie. Bodies were being flung all about. Every hit was more forceful than the one before it. There was grunting, and growling. I heard the agonizing scream of a man. I looked to where Quil, and the boy Victoria had called Riley, were fighting. Q-wolf had Riley's arm in one hand. I remembered what Bella had said about burning the vampire pieces, and I darted out of the remainder of the tent. I went out to where a fire had been set earlier, using the rest of the lighter fluid, I lit the fire and quickly ran back to where Bella sat.

Quil must have noticed what I had done, because, he was there in an instant. While I had set the fire, Quil had torn Riley into several different pieces, and was throwing them in the fire. He quickly ran back to help Edward.

Victoria's scream echoed through the woods. It was like a banshee. I could hear the pain and agony in her voice. I watched as the firelight grew bigger. Victoria was dead.

"You guys, ok?" Edward asked, standing outside the tent. Bella unzipped the door and walked out with me close behind her. She ran to Edward, throwing her arms around him.

"We're fine." She answered, before kissing him passionately.

"Where's Q?" I asked, looking around.

"He had to go finish up the battle in the field. I believe that it's over now though. It looks like there are only two newborns left and they have stopped fighting." Edward answered.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked.

"Uhh…everyone is alive." He didn't look me in the eye when he answered.

"Edward?" Worry filled my eyes. Who was hurt?

He ignored me. "Let's start walking down there. I believe that the remainder of the newborns are dead. The battle is over."

I didn't argue. I was ready to leave.

We walked quickly. When we reached the clearing, the Cullens ran over to us, relieved to see that we were all okay.

Emmett put an arm around my shoulders and looked at me with pitiful eyes, "Don't worry, Makiya. He'll be okay."

"What are you talking about?"

"Emmett!" Alice and Edward both shouted.

"She doesn't know yet." Alice said quietly.

"Know what?" I demanded.

"Jacob was hurt." Edward explained. "He was trying to save-"

"Me." Rosalie interrupted. She stared at the ground.

Tears filled my eyes, "Where is he?"

"He's at our house. My father is looking over him. The rest of the pack is there too."

"Well somebody had better take me there now." It came out a bit more harsh than I had intended, but before I knew it, Emmett had picked me up and we were flying through the woods.

"He's unconscious." Dr. Cullen stated as we walk through the door of the Cullen mansion.

I ran to their couch. Jake looked like hell. His face was swollen and bruised. There was a splint on his leg and his ribs were wrapped up in medical tape. I kissed his forehead lightly, blinded by the tears in my eyes. I grabbed his hand in mine.

"Jacob," I whispered, "I love you. Now wake up. Please baby."

I stared at his face, hoping for something, some kind of sign letting me know he was okay. When nothing happened, I began to sob, uncontrollably. My attention turned to the whispering vampires standing behind me.

"YOU!" I said angrily, staring at Rosalie, "Why couldn't you have just protected yourself or had your _own_ boyfriend risk his life for you instead of mine. You almost got him killed." I wasn't really angry with Rosalie, but I needed someone to blame.

"I'm sorry," was all she said. If vampires could cry, I assumed she would be right then.

Q walked through the front door, and immediately put his arms around me.

"Q, what if he doesn't wake up?" I sobbed into his chest.

"He will. Us werewolves heel 100 times faster than humans. It's just going to take a little bit of time. Why don't you sit down in the chair, and try to rest a bit."

"I can't." I wiggled out of his arms and walked over to Jacob, taking his hand again. I laid my head on his shoulder and continued to cry.

I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes the sun was up. Jacob was still lying there, but the bruising around his face was gone.

"Jake." I shook him a little.

"Go away, dad!" He growled

"Jake." I said a little louder. His eyes popped open and I chuckled.

"You are so not my dad." He laughed

"How you feeling, baby?"

"Like I got hit by a truck."

"Nope, just some vampires." I heard a deep laugh and turned around to see Emmett standing there.

"You need anything, babe?" I asked.

"Yeah as a matter of fact." He sat up a bit and grabbed my waist, pulling me on top of him.

"Jake, am I hurting you?" I asked, knowing that he had broken ribs.

"Only if you don't lean down here and kiss me." I giggled, but complied.

"Nice to see you're feeling better." My cousins voice interrupted.

I stopped and Jake looked at him and winked, "Much better."

_AN: Ok, so here's the deal, I'm kinda stuck on what to do after this chapter. I'm thinking Edward and Bella's wedding as the final chapter. What do you think?_

_R&R PLEASE!!!!!!_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Do you really have to go?" Jake asked me. For a big strong werewolf, he sure was whining an awful lot.

"Jacob, I'm leaving for a three weeks. I haven't seen my mother in forever, and I need to meet with the lady overseeing my probation."

"God, my girlfriend is such a badass." He smiled that famous Jacob smile.

"Yeah, and my boyfriend is an animal. It's why we work." I laughed. "Take care of my baby, while I'm gone. Don't let Q drive her." I shot a pointed glance at Quil, who put his hands up in defense.

"I didn't even wreck it for real." He claimed.

"Yeah, but you acted like you did." I growled. "You're still on punishment for that."

_Flashback_

_It had been one week after the epic battle with the newborn vampires and everything was finally getting back to normal around Forks, well as normal as it could get when your best girl friend was soon to be marrying a vampire and your boyfriend, cousin, and friends consisted of vampires and werewolves. _

_Bella, Alice, and I had spent quite a bit of time together since the fight. They were the only ones I could be completely open with. If I tried to tell any of my Forks friends about what my life had actually been like for the past few months, they would think I was crazy. Literally. I would be locked up._

_Us three girls were sitting in the Cullen's living room when my phone rang. I looked to see it was Q. I knew that him, Jacob, Edward, Emmett, and Jasper had taken my Jeep and Emmett's Jeep out in the woods that afternoon. I just prayed that everything was okay._

"_Hello?"_

"_Mack? Oh my God. I am so sorry. I need to know where your insurance information is. I might have accidentally rear-ended Emmett right as he slammed on his breaks."_

"_You wrecked my Jeep?" I yelled into the phone, causing Bella and Alice to jump._

"_I might have." I could hear Jacob snickering in the background._

"_Quil, you better hope you're lying." He laughed. My heart was racing. I had worked at the smelly bait shop for three months to maintain my Jeep. If he wrecked it, I was going to kill him. _

"_I am. I just wanted to see what you were going to do."_

"_Did my boyfriend put you up to this?"_

"_Who Jacob? Nah, he actually warned me. He told me that I went ahead with this little plan, he wasn't going to protect me if you tried to kill me."_

_End Flashback_

It had now been a month since the battle. My mother had called about a week ago to inform me that I needed to meet a counselor of the court as part of the terms of my probation. I was now on my way back to South Carolina for awhile. I had informed my mother that I really liked it out in Washington. She could see that I had obviously changed for the better out here, and decided that I would remain for the rest of my high school career. All I had to do is promise to come home for major holidays, except for Thanksgiving, she was coming out here. And I had to go on this three week vacation before school started.

"Ok, this is it. You be careful. Stay out of trouble in South Carolina. Don't give your mother too hard of time." My uncle informed me.

"I got it, Unc. I'll be fine." I smiled and gave him a hug.

"I put some cookies in your carry-on." My aunt winked and kissed my cheek.

"I don't know if I'll be able to take those threw security. They are really finicky these days." I laughed.

"Ok, I'll see you in a week, lil' cuz." Q put his large hand on my head, messing up my hair.

"Who you calling little, Q? I'm still older than you." I mocked offense.

"Whatever, short stuff." He laughed. I hugged him and kissed his cheek. Then, I turned to my boyfriend. He was usually the talkative type. Normally, I couldn't get him to keep his mouth shut.

"Say something, Jake." I looked at him, tears in my eyes. I hated goodbyes, but at least this one was a little more civil than the last time we said goodbye.

"I'm going to miss you." He whispered in my ear.

I placed a soft kiss on his lips, and held his head in between my hands as I stared into his chocolate eyes. "I'm going to miss you, too. I love you."

"I love you, too." He smiled, but it looked forced.

"I'm coming back, you know that right?" I giggled, nervously.

"I know, but I just get nervous, I can't protect you from thousands of miles away."

"I'll be fine. I grew up in Hilton Head. I know pretty much everyone on the island. No worries."

"Flight 2943 to Savannah will begin boarding momentarily." I heard the announcement over the loud speakers.

"Okay, kids. This is it." I said, looking at my family. "I love you all." I smiled. I gave out last hugs to everyone, but stopped when I got to Jacob. "I'll miss you most of all, scarecrow." He laughed at my reference to _Wizard of Oz_. One night, he regrettably informed me that he had never seen the movie. I made him watch it. That was months ago, and even still he has nightmares about the flying monkeys tearing him apart. I still enjoy giving him shit about it. I kissed his lips softly, and he grabbed the back of my neck, deepening the kiss. I was flustered and breathless, and forgot where I was for the moment. He pulled away, and I became aware of my surroundings.

"I love you. Be careful, please." He begged.

"I love you, too. And I wasn't kidding about my baby. Quil doesn't get to drive." I laughed. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck for one last chaste kiss. "Bye, baby."

"Bye, Ki." I forced a smile as tears filled my eyes. I walked towards the security gates, looking back one more time, before I went through. I waved, and my whole family waved back.

It's a strange feeling to come full circle. It was only a few months ago I was a bitter, immature, teenager who was dreading coming to Washington. I was dreading having to live with my annoying little cousin. I was dreading having to start at a new school. I didn't want to deal with the cold weather.

At this point, I was still a teenager, but I would like to think I was a little more mature, and not really bitter anymore. I have actually grown to love Washington. You can get used to the rain, and it makes you appreciate the sun so much more. My "annoying" little cousin is actually one of my best friends. I've actually found love in Washington. Something I thought I'd never find regardless of where I was. I love my new school, and the friends I've met there. And the cold weather, well it just gives you an excuse to cuddle with your handsome boyfriend.

Now, I was dreading going back to Hilton Head. I would enjoy it, but I'd miss my new family. I'd miss my morning chats with Uncle Q over coffee which we both took black. I'd miss off-roading with Jake, Q, and the rest of the guys. I'd miss Aunt Michelle's cooking.

Yep, I had in fact come full circle. As the plane took off, I found myself looking out the window, catching my last glimpse of Washington for the next three weeks. One thought played through my mind; I can't wait to get back here. I can't wait to come back _home._

**El Fin  
**

_A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this story. It was my first fanfic ever, so tell me what you think. Thanks to all my reviewers. I might be tempted to do a short sequel but that's completely up to you guys. 3, Ki.  
_


	15. Sequel Preview

AN: So I was thinking about writing a sequel to this story, but really, it's been quite a while, and I wanted something fresh. This is a snippet of the story I'm working on now. It's set directly after TROUBLE, and part of the same 'verse. So tell me what you think.

"You made quite the first impression last night." I looked over to the doorway of the room to see Leah, who looked about as bad as I felt. I must have made it back to Aunt Sue's sometime last night.

"I feel like shit." I grumbled.

"You don't look too hot either." She laughed softly.

"Speak for yourself, bitch." I shot back. She walked over and climbed into the bed with me.

"I don't want to drink that much again. I can't believe you stole that whole bottle of Jack."

"Well, tall, dark, and angry didn't seem to mind too much." I laughed. It didn't sit well with my stomach. I shot up and ran towards the bathroom, emptying my already empty stomach.

When I was done, and brushed my teeth, I walked back out to my bed to find an already asleep Leah. I just crawled back to my spot and fell back asleep too.

When I woke for the second time that day, it was to snickers and whispers. "Dude, that is so hot." I heard what sounded like Quil's voice say.

"That's my sister and my cousin." Came Seth's disgruntled reply.

I could feel Leah stirring beside me, obviously hearing the boys' conversations.

"If you want to live to see tomorrow, I suggest you get the hell out." She growled. I snickered beside her. She always was good with the death threats. The boys hurriedly cleared the room.

I opened my eyes, relieved that my headache was pretty much gone, and I didn't have the overwhelming urge to hug a toilet. I sat up, still covered in sand. Leah crawled out of bed, and I followed. We made our way to the two different bathrooms in the house. I decided one long hot shower was in order. Afterwards, I was as good as new. I got dressed and walked downstairs where I found Seth, Quil, a boy who I met last night named Embry, Jacob, the girl he was with the night before, Leah, and tall, dark and angry himself all sitting in the living room.

I smiled sheepishly at them. "Hey, guys." I felt a blush heat my cheeks. Quil, Jake, Embry, and Seth all snorted. Tall, dark, and angry just glared at me.

"How ya feeling?" Jacob asked, a goofy grin on his face.

"Just fine, thanks." I snapped.

"Easy there, killer." Seth added.

"Oh, bite me."

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of Leah this morning." Quil added, causing the whole room to burst into laughter. Even tall, dark, and angry chuckled a bit. I made my way into the kitchen, grateful to find a full pot of freshly made coffee. As I took my first sip, I looked over my cup to find one large piece of Quileute man meat staring at me with the most gorgeous brown eyes I have ever seen. I felt that urge to jump him once again, and surprisingly, it was stronger sober than when I was drinking. I was even more surprised to see the same hunger in his eyes.

"Hi." I practically purred as I set my coffee cup down. He licked his lips.

"Hey." His voice was low, almost like a growl. I felt my body heat rise as I bit my lower lip.

"So tall, dark, and angry, you got a name?" He smirked.

"Yep." My mouth turned up into a frustrated smile.

"And?" I put my hand on my hip.

"And maybe if you apologize for stealing my liquor I'll tell you." He bent down low and whispered in my ear sending shivers up my spine.

"I'm sorry." I said, without an ounce of remorse. He was still bent down, his head level with mine. I was quite aware just how close our mouths were. He leaned closer and closer. His lips were mere centimeters from mine.

"Paul." I didn't even know what happened. Suddenly he was standing straight up, and I was damn near collapsing into his chiseled chest. I looked up at him. He was wearing a smug smile. I frowned. "So do you have a name?" He asked. My mind was so stupefied by the events that had just transpired I didn't even register his question for about a minute. He just sat there, staring at me smugly.

"Aylen." It was a struggle for me to get the two syllables out. He smiled, showing all his teeth and walked out of the kitchen to join the others. I decided right then and there that that smile was my absolute favorite.

I leaned against the kitchen counter stunned. I had never had man make me go stupid like that. The stunned expression must have shown on my face, because when I walked back into the living room, Leah gave me a knowing look. I noticed the only seat available was on the couch in between Paul and Embry. I sighed, but before I could sit down, there was a knock on the door. I opened it to see a police officer standing on the front porch.

"Are you Aylen Cooper?" The man with mustache asked. I couldn't help but laugh at the cliché-ness of it all.

"Yep." I answered without hesitation. I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Miss Cooper, I'm Chief Swan, and I'm afraid you are under arrest for destruction of property."

AN: Depending on school and other things that are going on right now, I'm going to try and have this story posted within the next couple weeks, so check back soon for updates.


	16. It's UP!

It's up. The sort of sequel to this story is now officially up, and I will try to update it as often as I can. Feel free to check out **Thank God for Cheaters**. You can find it on my profile. Love you all, thanks for reading!


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